The Great Babysitter - Ocean Excavation

If you been around the home schooling blogging world you have seen this activity before and for good reason - IT'S WONDERFUL.  I saw this for the first time on Chasing Cheerios and promptly did it with Ladybug and Mister last summer.  It lasted minutes before they abandoned the activity. 

This year, I created the ice excavation for when my mother-in-law would be babysitting.  A few days before she was going to baby sit I froze ocean animals in layers and added food color to two of the layers.

The good news is that they worked on it for an hour.  The bad news is that is was 70 degrees which isn't exactly ice excavating weather.  You can't win them all.
I provided:

• Brushes
• Salt
• Cups
• Warm water
• Cool water
• Turkey baster
• Mallet
• Squirt Bottle

Ocean - Part Two

The rest of our activities for oceans.

Practicle Life

 Math

I found a blank ocean scene, added stickers, and used contact paper so the stickers couldn't be moved.

 Literacy

Lakeshore Learning has these laminated pockets that wipe clean. 

Pink Series - Inital sounds

Rather than use these as three-part cads, we used them for memory.

 Art

Michaels had these a pack of 3 stencil sheets on clearance for $.99. 

Science

Finding Fish

I saw this activity when I was knee-deep and lost in the Internet and I apologize to the children's art blog that had creating fish from leaves.

First I soaked some blue sidewalk chalk in water and Mister and Ladybug colored their paper using the wet chalk.  I had them use the side of their chalk to make thick lines.

Next we took a walk outside to collect leaves and sticks that had fallen on the ground

I made a fish out of the leaves and they called out with excitement that I made a fish.  They were eager to start their own fish.  While Mister was playing with his leaves and created a sting ray and Ladybug followed.

Mr. Seahorse

During our ocean study we have read Eric Carle's Mr. Seahorse many times and one day I noticed Mister and Ladybug discussing the pictures, so did our own Mr. Seahorse. First we watched a few videos on his art and then set out to create our own.

This was our second attempt at water color on tissue paper.  First we tried doing it Eric Carle way, but all we had was ripped paper.  I found folding it an having Mister and Ladybug do dots was more effective.

I love the way the colors spread and mixed on the tissue paper

I taped a printout of a seahorse onto their tissue paper and cut it out. 

On a pice of contact paper tissue paper was used to make seaweed.



Here is Ladybug's Mr. Seahorse. 



I wish I was a fishy in the sea...

Gather around everybody it's art project time!

Last week we made wet-into-wet ocean scene using watercolors, crayons, contact paper, tissue paper, and sand.

First Ladybug and Mister used a crayon to make seaweed and used water to wet their paper.

While the paper was still wet, they used watercolors to create the ocean. 

As you can imagine, wet-into-wet watercolor takes a lot of time to dry, so they ripped tissue paper and stuck it to clear contact paper.  When the contact paper was covered, I put another piece on top to seal it and cut out fish.

Mister and Ladybug added sand the their ocean floor and finally the fish.

This picture doesn't do it justice because when the sun streams in the window the fish sparkle. 

Ocean - Part One

Here's what we are doing this month.

Math

Seahorse wood cutouts from Michael's pained with numbers.  Mister and Ladybug put as many shells as the seahorse has on the body.

Seashell button sorting. 

Sensory

Hello Goodwill!  Here are some lacing cards you can print and laminate or use clear contact paper.

Science

I made shark three-part cards. 

Viewfinder

Practical Life

Literacy

Art



Michael's clearance section.



August Sensory Box - Ocean

This month we are all about oceans.  If you do a search you will find many ocean sensory bins and there are some great ideas, but I wanted to do something a little different.  This another sensory bin that should be kept outside.  Happy Playing!

• two aquarium plants ($.99 at the Pet Store)
• sand
• water tinted with one drop of blue food coloring
• sand"pearls" from a broken bracelet
• two nets (already owned)
• shells (already owned)
• pretend fish ($1 for pack of 6 at the Dollar Store)
• Safari Toob coral reef figures (already owned)
• Grow capsules - sea creatures ($1)