Last week, I decided to run a mini preschool program with my daughter, Kate, and some of her friends.
Our theme was ocean animals. Each day we sang songs, read a story, did a craft, had a snack, and had playtime.
And we had so much fun that I just had to share the activities that we did with you.
Ocean animals preschool planner – Schedule and supply list
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About the week
Each day, we followed the same schedule. (Kids tend to do well with predictability.) Here’s what our preschool time looked like:
- Song
- Story
- Craft
- Snack
- Play activity
Scroll down to find all the details about what we did each day.
Monday: Fish
Fish song: The Goldfish, by the Laurie Berkner Band
We love this song! It’s so fun for kids to pretend to be goldfish, swimming around in the ocean. And it’s goofy too, which preschoolers love.
Fish story: Sophie’s Fish by A. E. Cannon
In this story, Sophie asks Jake to watch her fish for her while she goes on vacation, and Jake starts to worry that it might be more complicated than he thought. We love the silly ending of this story.
Fish craft: Paper plate fish
This was the perfect craft to start off the week: it was pretty easy, and it involved painting, which the kids loved. See how to make them here.
Fish snack: Fishing for goldfish
This snack was so fun! It’s a pretty simple idea, but the kids loved picking up goldfish with their edible fishing rods. We followed the directions here, but used blue frosting instead of cream cheese.
Play activity: Sponge fish target toss
We used this idea to try to fill up buckets with water by filling and squeezing out our fish sponges. I also filled up our water table with some ocean animal toys and kitchen tools from the dollar store.
Tuesday: Octopuses
Song: The Goldfish, by the Laurie Berkner Band
For the second day, we did the same song as yesterday. (It helps kids feel more comfortable when you include repeats.) But this time we added dancing scarves.
| Preview | Product | Price | |
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AIVIAI Dance Scarves Music Scarves for… |
$6.95 |
Buy on Amazon |
Octopus story: The Octopuppy by Martin McKenna
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The Octopuppy | $7.22 | Buy on Amazon |
This is a very silly story about a boy who wants a dog… and gets an octopus instead. My kids loved the part where the octopus decided to go home by flushing himself down the toilet.
Octopus craft: Octopus Cheerio project
For this craft, I just printed out the template that I found here, and had the kids color, then glue Cheerios to their octopuses. They turned out super cute.
Octopus snack: Octopus in hummus
Isn’t this snack adorable? I made one octopus, and then gave each kid a little bag of raw veggies to eat with their spoonful of hummus.
Play activity: Frozen ocean animal rescue
I found this activity here. I bought this ocean animal set on Amazon, and froze the pieces inside a huge block of ice the night before. Then I set it out in the water table with a bunch of tools and squeeze bottles of water. This activity was so much fun, and kept the kids busy for a really long time.
Wednesday: Sharks
Shark song: Baby Shark
We just had to do this song for shark day!
Shark story: Shark Kiss, Octopus Hug by Lynn Rowe Reed
| Preview | Product | Price | |
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Shark Kiss, Octopus Hug |
$11.99 |
Buy on Amazon |
This hilarious book is all about an octopus and a shark who just want some hugs and kisses… but all the people keep running away!
Shark craft: Shark headbands
This download is available for $3. The kids needed some help with all the cutting and glueing, but the results were absolutely adorable.
Snack: Banana dolphins
I know, I know- it’s not a shark snack. But we didn’t do a dolphin day, and I couldn’t resist having these snacks at some point during the week. So easy, cute, and healthy- win, win, win!
Play activity: Sea foam sensory play
I whipped up a few batches of this sea foam and poured it into our water table along with the sea animals we played with all week.
Thursday: Whales
Whale song: Baby Beluga
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Baby Beluga (Raffi Songs to Read) |
$8.99 |
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This is a classic book/song combination. 😉
Whale story: A Whale in the Bathtub by Kylie Westaway
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A Whale in the Bathtub |
$15.50 |
Buy on Amazon |
This was our favorite book of the entire ocean animals week. It’s all about a boy who can’t take his bath because there’s a whale in the bathtub. And no one in his family will believe him! It’s so goofy and fun, and I’m pretty sure I have it memorized by now, my kids have asked me to read it so many times.
Whale craft: Whale sun-catchers
This craft was really fun- my kids asked to watercolor coffee filters again the next day, too. And they turned out really well. (We just did whales, but there are a few different ocean animal templates available.)
Snack: Under the sea graham crackers
Aren’t these fun? I gave each kid a graham cracker, some frosting, and some goldfish on a plate with a plastic knife, and they had a great time creating their own ocean scenes.
Play activity: Blubber gloves science experiment
We did a version of this experiment, where kids use Crisco to see how a whale’s blubber keeps it warm.
Friday: Crabs
Song: Under the Sea
This song is perfect for dancing with bubbles.
Crab story: Don’t Worry, Little Crab by Chris Haughton
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Don’t Worry, Little Crab |
$11.05 |
Buy on Amazon |
This book is sweet, with a good lesson at the end. My kids loved all of the “sound effect words” too.
Craft: Seashell painting
For this craft, we drew with oil pastels (we have this set) and then painted on top with watercolors.
Snack: Beach Jell-O Cups
| Preview | Product | Price | |
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Jell-O Play Beach Cups Dessert Kit (9.3… | Buy on Amazon |
We bought this kit at Aldi, but it wouldn’t be too hard to make your own using pudding, graham cracker crumbs, and gummy fish.
Play activity: Play-dough and seashells
The kids loved making impressions with their seashells in the play-dough, and trying to make their own shell shapes out of the play-dough. (See more seashell/play-dough ideas here.)
Ocean animals preschool theme: Free printable schedule and supply list
Don’t forget to grab your free planner and supply list.
Have fun!
-Laura
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