Ideas for an Awesome Ocean Unit Study

Studying the ocean with kids is so much fun! There are so many different things to explore! Beautiful blue water, interesting ocean creatures, and unique sea shells are just some of the many incredible parts of the ocean that can can captivate the attention of kids! Create an awesome ocean unit study with these hands-on science, STEM, math, literacy, sensory and art activities. You will keep your kids busy and engaged in fun activities all summer long!

These ocean themed summer activities are super easy to put together, require very few materials (most of which you probably already have at home), and are much more exciting than a workbook for summer skills review!

Adorable ocean animals and the fun of sand and water will quickly put these activities at the top of your kids’ favorites list.  There are so many opportunities for hands-on learning that will excite your kids.  You won’t have to worry about anyone in your house claiming they have nothing to do this summer.

Why Should I Use Ocean Themed Activities?

Aside from the fact that kids love the ocean and creatures that live there, there are so many reasons that you should use ocean themed activities with your kids. 

Reasons to Use Ocean Themed Activities:

Learn about the Ocean: Activities that are ocean themed naturally lead to discussions about habitats (what are the characteristics of an ocean?), animal adaptations (how are ocean animals unique and how do they survive?), climate (what is the weather like at the beach and by the ocean?), and geography (where are oceans located?).  These activities will spark your child’s curiosity about the ocean even more and will leave them with so many questions that they will keep wanting to learn more and more about the ocean.

Develop an Appreciation for Nature: Ocean themed activities give children an appreciation for nature and can lead to discussions about why and how we can take care of our oceans.  Kids will love coming up with ideas about how to take care of our oceans and ocean animals. 

Stress Relief: Have you ever noticed how stress relieving the beach and ocean can be?  The sound of ocean waves, relaxing sea breezes, and beautiful landscapes can all be so soothing for adults and children!  Ocean themed activities can be the same way.  Sensory activities are especially good stress relievers!

And those are just a few of the many benefits of ocean themed activities for kids!

Check out all of our incredibly fun and engaging ocean themed activities below!.

30+ Hands-on Ocean Activities for Kids

Ocean Themed Art Activities

Capture the beauty of the ocean with these incredible arts and crafts projects!  Seashells, sand dollars, and ocean animals make for great subjects in these activities.  Your kids will have so much fun unleashing their creativity and artistic side this summer with these ocean themed art projects.

1. Easy Paper Plate Octopus Craft for Kids

This Easy Paper Plate Octopus Craft for Kids is sure to put a smile on everyone’s face this summer!  Cutting, hole punching, painting, and gluing are just a few of the many skills your children will work on with this craft.  Watch fine motor skills develop and creativity come to life with this adorable octopus craft!

2. How to Dye Seashells for a Summer Sensory Bin

Sea shells are one of our favorite souvenirs to bring home from the beach.  We enjoy searching for them on the beach, but they are also easy to find and inexpensive to buy in craft stores!  We love adding shells to our sensory bins, especially after we have dyed them bright colors.  This How to Dye Seashells for a Summer Sensory Bin will show you just how easy it is to dye your seashells and give you plenty of ideas for sensory bin exploration with them!

3. Guide to Hydro-Dipping Sand Dollars Art Activity

We love to paint seashells and sand dollars in the summer as a quick and easy art activity, but I recently discovered another awesome way to add a little extra sparkle to our sand dollars!  This Guide to Hydro-Dipping Sand Dollars Art Activity will show you just how easy it is to hydro-dip your sand dollars and make an amazing color swirl work of art.

More Ocean Themed Art Activities for Kids

• Create an Ocean Salt Painting for Kids!
• Make an adorable Foil Fish Craft.
• Creating Ocean Scenes is another fun art project.
• Instead of baking cupcakes, use the liners for this Jellyfish Cupcake Liner Craft.
• Up cycle egg cartons with Egg Carton Ocean Crafts.
• Bottle caps make beautiful Bottle Cap Ocean Art.
• Kids will love Ocean Sponge Painting!

Ocean Themed Math Activities

Math is always more fun when you have a great theme for your learning activities!  These ocean activities make the perfect theme for summer math practice.  These activities are engaging, colorful, and attention grabbing!  As an added bonus, the adorable ocean theme makes them even more appealing to little learners!

1. Ocean Counting Grids.

One fish, two seagulls, three dolphins, four crabs- the ocean is full of creatures to count!  Keep the counting practice going all the way up to 100 with Under The Sea Counting With Free Printable Ocean Counting Grids.  Colorful counting grids with adorable ocean animals make this activity super engaging and fun for kids!

2. DIY Ocean Clip Cards for Counting

Clip cards are a wonderful way to practice counting.  These DIY Ocean Clip Cards for Counting are a simple way to get your child working on counting and number identification this summer.  Because it is a DIY activity, you can customize it to fit your child’s needs and let them help with the task of creating the cards!

3. Ocean Theme Puzzles for Making 10

Working on puzzles is one of the ways I like to relax over the summer!  My kids love puzzles too, and I love these Free Ocean Theme Puzzles for Making 10 because they are a great way to work on counting and simple addition skills.   Just print the activity, cut out the puzzle pieces, and it is ready to use over and over again for some puzzle math fun!

4. Seashell Roll and Count Activity

Sea shells make the perfect manipulative for counting in this Free Printable Seashell Roll and Count Activity.  There are so many math skills packed into this one activity!  Practice number identification, numeral writing, and one to one correspondence all at the same time.

5. Ocean I Spy Counting Printable

I Spy is one of our favorite games to play!  Kids will enjoy searching for all of the ocean creatures and counting them each one by one in this Ocean I Spy Counting Printable.  The adorable and brightly colored animal pictures are an added bonus kids will love!

6. Ocean Interactive Math Mega Pack

If you’re looking for more simple, easy, low-prep math activities, you have to check out this Ocean Interactive Math Mega Pack!  Ocean themed math games, counting cards, counting posters, sorting mats, and so many more activities are included in this mega pack.

More Ocean Math Activities

• This Ocean Number Line Game is a great way to work on the skill of number lines.
• Match the number to the die in this Fish Roll and Cover Number Mat activity.
• Count shark teeth with these Shark Math Mats without having to get close to an actual shark!
• Work on numeral formation with Beach Kindergarten Number Worksheets.
• Use Under the Sea Counting Cards and Puzzles for more math practice.

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Ocean Themed Literacy Activities

Just as we build a strong foundation for sandcastles by the ocean, it is important to help our children build a strong foundation for reading.   There are many ways to do this, but ocean themed activities are one of my favorite ways!  By practicing letter identification, letter sounds, and working on forming letters into words, we are giving our children the building blocks they will need to start their reading journey.  These amazing ocean themed literacy activities will help start their love of letters and reading this summer!

1. Ocean Theme Letter Recognition Activities: Spin and Stamp

Upper and lowercase letters can be easily confused in the minds of preschoolers and kindergartners.  Work on upper and lowercase letter recognition with Ocean Theme Letter Recognition Activities: Spin and Stamp.  Your kids will love spinning the spinner, identifying the letter, and stamping the correct letter on the fun ocean themed paper.

2. Stamping Compound Words with Kinetic Sand

Letter stamps and traditional stamping pads are fun, but have you ever tried stamping your letters in kinetic sand?  The kinetic sand holds the shape of the letters and words that you stamp onto it and makes it a great material for practicing forming compound words.  This Stamping Compound Words with Kinetic Sand activity is the perfect way to combine literacy practice and the joy of playing in the sand for kids.

3. Ocean Animal Valentine Cards

Valentine’s Day may not be during summer, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t send a fun card to a loved one!  Brighten someone’s day during the summer by sending them one of these adorable Free Printable Ocean Animal Valentine Cards.  You can practice reading and writing skills with these cards!

4. Pet Fish Alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase Matching Game

Match the lowercase fish to the matching uppercase letter fishbowl in this Pet Fish Alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase Matching Game.  Kids will love hunting and searching through the cards to find and make letter matches.  Check out the activity for ways to easily differentiate this activity for different age levels!

More Ocean Theme Literacy Activities

• These Fish Puppets are a great art and craft activity that is also good for literacy and story development skills.
• A Seashell Alphabet makes the perfect summer decor for your playroom or classroom.
• Practice matching letters and beginning sounds with Ocean Animal Clip Cards.
• Beach Alphabet Kindergarten Worksheets are a good way to work on letter formation.
• Practice letter formation, sentence writing, or story telling using Ocean Themed Writing Paper.

Ocean Themed Science Activities

Why is the ocean salty?  What makes the waves move?  How are shells made?  My kids are full of questions, especially when we go to the beach and are near the ocean.   Help feed into your kids’ curiosity this summer and get them excited about science with some ocean themed STEM activities!

1. Ocean Currents Science Experiment

Explore currents in this interactive Ocean Currents Science Experiment.  Your kids will love watching as the different colored water starts to magically move from one area of the bin to the other.  This is the perfect way to start investigating and even looking into researching ocean currents this summer.

More Ocean Science Activities

• Have you ever wondered just how large a whale is?  Find out with this Whale Science Activity.
• Investigate the ocean layers with an Ocean Science Activity.
• Kids will love this Submarine STEM Activity!
• Learn about density with a Saltwater Science Experiment.
• Grow beautiful crystals in this Seashell Crystal Experiment.
• Build LEGO Ocean Animals!

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Ocean Sensory Activities

Sensory experiences and the ocean naturally go hand in hand!  The ocean is full of fun textures, a wide variety of colors, distinct scents, and soothing sounds.  These activities just extend the sensory experiences that we encounter when we go to the ocean and help to bring them into your home!  

1. Super Fun Ocean Sensory Bin with DIY Sand Foam

Rice, beans, sand, and pasta are normally my go to sensory bin fillers.  But, this DIY Sand Foam might just be my new favorite, especially for an ocean theme!  Check out this Super Fun Ocean Sensory Bin with DIY Sand Foam!  This new sensory texture is sure to be a hit with your kids this summer!

2. DIY Ocean Animal Sensory Bottle for Preschoolers

Create a mini ocean in a bottle that will captivate your preschoolers attention!  This DIY Ocean Animal Sensory Bottle for Preschoolers is simple and easy to create, and will provide hours of fun for your child.  Take your bottle in the car and talk about all the ocean animals you may see on the way to your vacation this summer!

3. How to Make Your Own Ocean Sensory Bottle

I have another awesome sensory bottle option with an ocean theme!  This sensory bottle captures the serenity and beauty of the ocean water and waves.  Kids will love tilting the bottle back and forth, and it can even be used as a calm down bottle to help soothe an upset child.  Check out How to Make Your Own Ocean Sensory Bottle to see just how easy it is to create this amazing sensory bottle!

4. Ocean I Spy Colors Poster Set for Preschoolers

I spy with my little eye a fun color poster set!  Eye catching, colorful dolphin posters are a great sensory experience for preschoolers.  There are so many possibilities for learning activities with these Ocean I Spy Colors Poster Set for Preschoolers.  To make this activity even better, the posters come in both English and Spanish!

5. Fish In The Ocean Sensory Bin for Preschoolers

Water beads, plastic fish, and water are all you need to create this Fish In The Ocean Sensory Bin for Preschoolers.  Kids will love swimming the fish through the ocean of water beads.  The different textures of the soft, squishy water beads and the smooth, plastic fish is a wonderful tactile sensory experience for kids!

6. Ocean Themed I Spy Jar for Preschoolers

Have you ever watched as fish swim in and out of seaweed in the water?  This Ocean Themed I Spy Jar for Preschoolers will give you that same experience captured in a jar!  Colorful fish make for a great visual sensory experience and the crinkled paper hides the fish and gives the illusion that they are disappearing and reappearing!  Kids will love shaking, rocking, and twisting this jar around to see which brightly colored fish they can spy!

7. Aquarium Scavenger Hunt for Kids

Another fun, visually stimulating activity for kids is this Free Printable Aquarium Scavenger Hunt for Kids.  Take this scavenger hunt activity to the beach, to an aquarium, or use it as you read your favorite ocean themed book this summer!  Your kids will have a blast hunting for the different ocean creatures and checking them off as they find them.

More Ocean Sensory Activities

• Try an Aquarium Sensory Bag for a fun and mess free sensory experience for toddlers.
• Check out this cool Ocean Slime Recipe!
• Frozen Shaving Cream makes a great base for sensory play.
• Another great Sand and Water Sensory Bin!
• Looking for a smaller sensory activity? Try this Tiny Ocean Activity Bin.
• Ocean Sensory Play on a Mirror is a fun twist on a sensory bin.

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Ocean Fine Motor Skills Activities

Fine motor skills may seem simple to work on, but they are incredibly important for toddlers, preschoolers, and other young children!  By strengthening fine motor skills, you are helping to set your child up for success when they begin to become more independent and work tasks such as cutting with scissors, tying their shoes, and dressing themselves.  Ocean themed activities make fine motor skill practice fun and exciting for kids!  They will love these activities and will be asking to do them over and over again this summer.

3. Ocean Sand and Seashell Sensory Bin Activity

This Ocean Sand and Seashell Sensory Bin Activity is wonderful for fine motor skills and hand eye coordination.  Kids will love manipulating the materials and feeling all of the different textures in this bin.  Picking up seashells, sifting through the sand, and touching the fun waves are all great for fine motor skills.

4. Rainbow Narwhal Color Board Game for Preschoolers

Board games are often overlooked as a way to develop fine motor skills, but they are so good for them!  Many board games require kids to use their pincer grasp (pinching an item with their finger and thumb) as they pick up mover pieces, small cards, or roll dice.  This Rainbow Narwhal Color Board Game for Preschoolers will not only help with fine motor skills, but is also a fantastic way to practice colors with fun narwhals this summer in your ocean themed unit!

5. Ocean Matching Pack

More awesome games for working on fine motor skills and preschool matching skills!  This Free Ocean Matching Pack includes a fun spin and cover game, graphing activity, and adorable ocean creature cards to use for a memory game!  Picking up the game cards, spinning the spinner, and moving the erasers to the game board are all excellent for developing fine motor skills.  This pack is sure to keep your kids busy and entertained this summer with all the fun activities that are included!

More Ocean Theme Fine Motor Skills Activities

• Strengthen fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination with Under The Sea Lacing Cards.
• Ocean Creature Coloring Pages are a simple and low prep way to practice the skill of coloring and work on fine motor skills.
• Sea Animal Q-Tip Painting is an easy and super cute activity!
• Shark lovers will really enjoy Shark Fine Motor Skill Activities.
• Under The Sea Play Dough Mats will have your kids moving play dough all around in fun and creative ways.

Beach Activities You’ll Love:

Fun Summer Activities:

• Summer Ice Cube Painting
• Summer Sun Emotions Board Game
• Summer Counting Book
• Orange Prints Process Art
• Lemon Sensory Bottle