Our theme for the past few weeks has been Under the Sea. And it kind of transformed into under the water since many of the fish we saw were in lakes, ponds, and rivers. And while we have done so much in connection with the theme, I haven’t taken that many pictures so most of this is a list of what we did. This theme kind evolved over the past several weeks with a vacation in the middle of it making the theme even longer. I try to change it up every two weeks but well, he likes the theme and it just kept evolving so here is a summary of all the things we did.
Connected Learning with Real Life!
There are many free opportunities to see and interact with fish. Of course we visited our local Petco, Three Lakes Park and Nature Center, got to hold a fishing pole in WVA, Bass Pro Shop, and of course went fishing for real! All but the real fishing trip, which cost under $10 for the pole, were free.
Three Lakes Park is great because you can see under the water and the go outside the building to look down on the water- it is a great way to talk and show how fish live under water. If you haven’t ever been to this park, it is good quick activity toto get out of the house for a bit on a hot day- you can go to the Nature Center spend half hour and head home. But on a nice day there are trails, picnic areas, and a very nice playground.
Below is a picture at Pipesteam, West Virignia holding a fishing worm that a very nice man gave him. He even let Kodi hold his fishing pole!! Which was cool that Kodi understood what this was because I made a magnetic one (more info about that below).
And no Under the Sea unit would be complete without a trip to Bass Pro Shop to get a fishing pole (yes we though about Green Top but the fish at Bass Pro are so much fun for his age).
And he is so brave- he loves the bear they have at Bass Pro
And as I have been failing on my photo duties I didn’t get any pictures of him with his pole in the store. But we gave him the cash to hand to the cashier– it was very sweet.
Then of course the first fishing trip and fish with his Dad.
Books
There are so many books to choose from but I picked the following to focus on:
A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
This is a well illustrated book, fun to sing, and read or watch. I also like that it talks about the food chain.
Secret Seahorse
This book really appealed to my toddler because the seahorse hides and you have to find him on each page.
Active Play
Felt Magnetic Fish
I got the idea to make these form this blog post here. I made mine larger- pictures and directions to follow.
Imaginary Boat
Simple and easy- blanket on the floor = boat. Everything around it is water. You can add fish to the water to pretend fishing, or just sing row row row your boat.
Playing on Dad’s kayak
We are lucky to have a real boat to play with. And even cooler that a friend gave us Playmobil Kayaker
Music
Row Row Row Your Boat
We also would sing this on our imaginary boat holding hands and feet touching while going back and forth like rowing a boat.
And of course The Goldfish song by The Laurie Berkner Band
Snacks
Blue Jello with Swedish Fish
I took blue jello in a clear cup and when it cooled I added a swedish fish so that it was a fish bowl. Again, no picture.
Snack Time Learning with Goldfish
Fun way to make snack time learning with a focus on fish, the letter F, and counting to 4. Go to the post to learn more and to download the pdf.
Coloring and Counting
Matching colors, counting and coloring. Go to the post to learn more and download the pdf.
Sensory Bin: Sink or Float
I filled our sensory bin with water and found items that would sink or float. I tried to connect the items to items we have seen so we had rocks and sticks we found in West Virginia, the worm the nice man gave us fishing in West Virginia, dinosaurs, leaves we collected in our yard, and a feather we found on our fishing trip… and then I added a few things like wine cork, fish buoy, and shells that we collected. I put them in a bin and we experiment with adding one at time to see what they did.
Art Projects
We finger painted a background for water and stamped on scales on a fish. We used shapes to make a fish. And we glued on pompom to make scales. Pictures and lesson plans coming soon.
Extended the Learning with Entertainment
Yes, we watch TV. And to tie into the Under the Sea theme we watch, of course Finding Nemo
[…] husband kayaks so we put that out for something fun to climb on and in. It also ties into the Under the Sea (aka all things water) theme we had been […]