Aquarium

Try an underwater theme picture for learning about the ocean week. This activity has numerous possibilities and provides your toddler with a wonderful opportunity to explore sensory motor skills. You can adapt what materials you will be using from what your child is capable of and their age.

You will need blue construction paper, or a piece of card stock finger-painted blue, various finger paint colors, mini wheel macaroni, glitter, sand, Elmer's glue, Lo Mien noodles, and a paint brush.

Start by preparing your blue ocean. You can do this activity in sections, a little each day so if you want to start a day, have your toddler just paint the background blue. Fill small Tupperware lids with various colors of finger paint and let your toddler swirl the lo mien noodles in them to paint them. This is much easier than using a brush and is a fun way to get dirty. Once they are coated, have your toddler spread them out on a piece of newspaper to dry as the background dries. The next day, have your toddler make thumb print fish throughout the background. To do this, use your thumb as the fish body and then paint a small triangle for the tail on the end. For those small a blob or personal creativity will do! Once this is dry, have your child paint where the sand is with glue. Cover the glue with sand mixed with glitter for a little shine. Once the ocean bottom is finished, you are ready for the fun part. Let your toddler use the prepared sea weed (noodles) and shells (macaroni) to complete their underwater picture. You can use this time to talk about the ocean and how it provides many things for sea life. You can shape the lo mien noodles to almost anything as well, starfish, coral, jellyfish, ect… Let your imaginations run wild!

This activity is sure to get your toddler thinking about all the wonderful things the ocean has to provide. It is not only a fun way to learn, but it will expand your toddlers sensory motor skills with numerous colors, shapes, and textures to talk about. Use this activity as a stand alone, or with a A (aquarium), O (ocean), or F (fish) theme week.