We started Ocean Week by making an octopus using the Letter O and Little Bug’s handprints.

Then we read the adorable story of Tickly Octopus. We have the CD of this book so first we listened to the CD and then I read it aloud to Little Bug.

We talked about Ocean Animals vs Land Animals.

We made Sand Dough!

All you need to make Sand Dough is 2 cups of fine sand, 1 1/2 cups water and 1 cup corn starch.

Pour all three into a pot on the stove. Mix together at medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes.

Once there is no more liquid in the mixture (and it is play doh consistency) it is ready!

Sand Dough kept Little Bug’s attention for a good while. First she made things with it.

Then we played a letter game. I made a letter with the sand dough and she had to tell me what letter it was. You can see from this picture that we both enjoyed this!

This was an excellent sensory activity and a fun way to practice letters with Little Bug without her really knowing I was quizzing her! Store in an airtight bag/container for more fun in the future!

We read the story in the Bible about Jesus calling his disciples to be fishers of men! We talked about the disiples being Jesus’s helpers to spread the word to everyone about Jesus. I told Little Bug she is Jesus’s disciple now because she can tell people about Jesus. I asked her what she could tell people about Jesus and she told me, “That Jesus is nice. That Jesus loves them. And that Jesus died on the cross.”

Then over two days (had to let the blue paint dry) we made this net of fish! All you need is a paperplate, blue paint, fish cut out of construction paper, plastic wrap and a sharpie pen.

Little Bug painted the paper plate blue. I cut out the fish and then we taped the plastic wrap tightly around the plate. I drew the lines with the sharpie to make the “net”.

We did some Ocean Phonic Clip Cards, but instead of clipping a clothes pin on the correct beginning sound of each picture, Little Bug likes to use these green marbles that are flat on one side.

When you place the marble on the letter it is like looking through a magnifying glass!

We played How Many Fish in the Ocean? I’d put a number in the square and Little Bug would tell me what it was and put that many fish in the ocean. At the end she lined up all the number cards (1-12) in numerical order.

Little Bug matched the picture to the word. Little Bug named the picture and then we talked about what letter sound the word began with.

Little Bug matched the ocean pictures that rhyme.

We read a bunch of ocean themed books, including Under the Sea Magnetic Story and Play Scene!

As I read the book, Little Bug placed the sea creatures on the pages of the book. She had to listen carefully to the words of the book to know where to place the sea creatures on the book!

- Elaine