After the new baby, we have been a little slow to get back into a regular "homeschool" routine. Since Archer is still young and goes to preschool a few days a week for socialization, I am not too worried about it. We will get there. In the meantime, I have been trying to use some themes to bring in some fun learning activities for him. Most recently, we worked on an ocean theme. Here are some of the activities.
Ocean Themed Playdough. I included a bunch of sea life pony beads, mermaid buttons, some seashells, fake aquarium plants, sea animal cookie cutters, design rollers (bubbles and scales) and our Ocean Life Rollers.
Fish hole punching activity from Early Learning Ideas
Under the Sea Little Transfer Book Even though I have been a UBAM consultant for a while, this was the first time I have used one of these books. Both kids were pretty impressed by it.
Sea Life Inequalities. I used an overhead marker to write numbers on the pony beads and had him draw out two at a time. Then he put them in the bubbles to make the inequalities correct.
Digging starfish (star pony beads) out of therapy putty to make a graph and answer question. Graphing sheet can be printed here.
I found these cute little pails on clearance at the craft store, so we used those for adding coins. Coin addition sheet can be printed here.
Beach sensory play. I used sand I had left over from other sensory bins (recipe from Surviving a Teacher's Salary), some blue and green gems, Toob sea creatures and some more little pails.
Starfish pattern making with pony beads. Pattern sheet can be printed here.
Water dropper activity. I gave him some sea creature shaped bathtub clings and an eye dropper with some water. He enjoyed dripping water into each little suction cup (so much so, that he asked to do it again a couple weeks after I had already put the materials away).
Putting the days of the week in order. You can print the cards here.
I picked up a sea creature themed suncatcher kit at the craft store. We'd never done one before, but Archer enjoyed it and made several.
Ocean Themed Cuisenaire templates. I hadn't gotten one of these out in a while, but he really enjoyed it and asked for more.