This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you. I do not promote anything I do not believe in or stand behind.
We recently dived into a beach-themed learning experience with my preschooler and toddler. This theme is perfect for the summer season and was a great way to build my daughter’s excitement for our family beach trip. We learned new vocabulary and engaged in many conversations about the ocean, seashells and ocean animals.
Most importantly, this theme was fun and highly engaging for my kiddos, especially my daughter. It’s by far one of the favorite learning themes I’ve done with my daughter! But, then again, I love learning about the ocean and ocean animals. From my days as a teacher, the ocean units always peaked the most interest among my students. Needless to say, I was excited to dive into this theme with my kids.
This was a book-based play experience. This means we started our play with books. We read and explored books about ocean animals, the ocean, the seashore and going to the beach. We spent about a week and a half on this particular topic.
I recently expanded our home library to include some high interest nonfiction and fiction books about ocean animals and going to the beach. In fact, my kids were so excited to open these books as soon as the box arrived at our house. It makes my heart so happy to see my young children overjoyed about books!
Below, you’ll find our favorite beach and ocean-themed books. Each book is filled with colorfully detailed illustrations and engaging elements for toddlers and preschoolers. Click on each book cover to learn more about the details of the books.
Beach-Themed Play
Kinetic Sand
I set up sensory play with Kinetic Sand. This was a HUGE hit and I loved how it didn’t make a mess! It was the perfect post-nap activity as my kiddos were running around the house going crazy. This calmed them down and kept them in one place for close to an hour!
If you don’t have any Kinetic Sand yet, I highly recommend you grab some today because this stuff is AMAZING and so cool! What makes Kinetic Sand different is that it is regular sand coated in silicone oil. This causes the sand particles to stick to each other, but not other surfaces so there is no mess! Kinetic Sand is not sticky and super easy to clean up. That’s what makes it the perfect material for sensory play. It’s so cool to touch and is mesmerizing for adults, too! I admit I joined in on the fun.
I started with just the sand in a shallow plastic storage bin. Then I added some blue glass gems and seashells. Both of these can be found at the Dollar Store. The Kinetic Sand kit we purchased came with molds to make a sand castle and a few tools. My preschooler enjoyed building with the sand, creating little houses to decorate with the glass gems. You can even put the glass gems on one side of the container to represent the ocean water.
She also buried the seashells and dug them up to find each one. We counted the shells and glass gems. I try to incorporate counting into our play as much as possible.
My toddler just liked the seashells. He enjoyed taking them out of one container and putting them in another.
You can definitely do this same sensory play with regular sand. Another option is to crush up plain Cheerios to make inexpensive (and editable) play sand! This is a great option for younger toddlers or even older babies who put things in their mouths. Either way, incorporating sensory play with sand is a must-do activity when learning about the beach. It’s a wonderful way to bring a fun part of the beach (playing in the sand, building sand castles, digging in the sand for seashells) into your house or backyard when you don’t live close to the beach.
Puzzles
Our puzzle basket is filled with various puzzles. My daughter LOVES putting together puzzles! My son is starting to enjoy the chunky wooden puzzles from Melissa & Doug, but he isn’t into them nearly as much as she is. Since our puzzle box included two under the sea puzzles, I brought them out for this particular theme.
My son played with the Melissa and Doug Sea Creatures Chunky Puzzle and my daughter played with a 60 piece under the sea wooden ocean puzzle that was part of the 6 Pack Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles by Dreampark Puzzles. Melissa and Doug also make a 24 Piece Under the Sea Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle that is perfect for preschoolers. We love the quality of these wooden puzzles!
Puzzles are a wonderful toy for toddlers and preschoolers because they work on so many skills: fine motor, problem solving, spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, shape recognition, concentration, patience and sense of achievement, goal setting, and attention to detail. Puzzles also teach your little ones about the concept of a whole with each puzzle piece being a fraction of the bigger picture. So you can see there are many benefits to incorporating puzzles into your playtime!
My daughter and I worked as a team to put together the under the sea 60 piece wooden puzzle. However, it was mostly her putting it together while I engaged her in conversation about the ocean animals in the picture.
For my son, I filled a plastic bin with blue crinkled paper basket filler from the Dollar Store. Then I “hid” the wooden sea creatures from his chunky puzzle in the paper, which I pretended was the ocean water. He had to dig through the bin to find each sea creature and place it on the puzzle. He had more fun taking the blue crinkled paper out of the bin than actually finding the pieces to put them on the puzzle. But it was still a fun activity for him! We named each sea creature and he did try to put them back on the puzzle with my help. His favorite was the starfish. He carried it around the house for the remainder of the day. His second favorite was the crab.
Another way in which you can engage your child in puzzle fun without spending a ton of money is printing out pictures of ocean animals or the beach onto sheets of cardstock. The pictures can be laminated for durability. Clear packing tape is another great way to reinforce printed pages. Once the pictures are laminated or covered in clear packing tape, cut them apart into puzzle pieces. Then work with your child while he/she puts the pictures back together. This is a simple, easy and inexpensive way for your kiddos to reap the benefits of putting together puzzles.
I created the picture puzzles shown above with Google Slides using ocean images found inside the program. These puzzles focus on sequencing numbers and I’ve included them as part of a Beach & Ocean Themed Early Learning Activity Pack designed specifically for preschoolers in mind. Here is what is included in this 63-page early learning activity pack:
- 10 Focus Letters – C, D, H, J, N, O, P, S, U and X
- Cut & Glue Sea Creatures for each letter
- Crab, Dolphin, Hammerhead Shark, Jellyfish, Narwhal, Octopus, Pufferfish, Seagull, Urchin, and X-Ray Fish
- Coloring Sheet for each Letter
- Play Doh/Sensory Tray Mat for each letter
- Special lined paper for writing each letter
- Ocean Animals Matching Game
- Finish A Pattern
- Counting Practice with Sea Creatures, Seagulls and Seashells
- LOTS of Hands-On Learning!!
I absolutely LOVE creating hands-on learning activities for my kids, especially in today’s current state where we are doing more at-home learning. The theme, ocean animals and the beach, is highly engaging for young learners. This pack is perfect for this beach-themed learning experience so be sure to check it out here 😉
Ocean Animals
I love incorporating realistic animals into our play. My son LOVES playing with his bin of animals. He will take them out and line them up along the window sill. We talk about the sounds each animal makes. I will say the name of an animal and he looks for it. We point out the eyes, ears, legs, tail and mouth on each animal. It’s amazing how much vocabulary is built with this simple toy.
That’s why I knew I wanted to purchase a set of ocean underwater creatures for this beach-themed play. I tried to choose a set that included a variety of sea creatures that were a nice size for their little hands. I just fell in love with the realistic details of the sea creatures and was so excited for them to arrive in the mail.
My daughter immediately pulled each one out of the package and we explored each one. We counted how many sea creatures their were. My son loved holding them and lining them up, too!
The set we purchased included a variety of sharks so I brought out some additional books about sea creatures to help my daughter and I learn about them. My son enjoyed lifting the flaps and exploring the illustrations on each page. You can click on each book image to learn more about it 😉
The sea creatures can be used in a variety of ways to extend your toddler’s learning and play. You can put the sea creatures in a container filled with water (or the bathtub) for some fun water play. Name a sea creature or give a clue about one and watch your child search for it. Give your child a large spoon and let him/her practice scooping up the sea creature, transferring it to another bowl or empty container. Then, just let your little ones play! We enjoy water play in our home very much, especially on hot days!
Stickers
Stickers are another loved item in our home. We ALWAYS have a bin of stickers or sticker books and I enjoy adding to them for each book-based play theme. Including specific seasonal stickers is fun for your toddler and preschooler, too!
Stickers help strengthen your little one’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. These skills are essential to writing.
There are an endless number of ways to use stickers, but I am going to share with you some of our favorite ways we use them. Since we are focusing on the beach and ocean animals, we played with ocean animal stickers. I found Finding Nemo stickers at the Dollar Store, which my daughter really enjoyed. I always check the Dollar Store for stickers first before I purchase anywhere else. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised what I can find 😄
Use stickers to trace the shape of letters. We covered the shape of an F with fish stickers. You can cover the shape of an S with the seashell or sea star stickers included in this pack.
Write letters on a piece of paper and guide your preschooler to identify the beginning letter of each ocean animal sticker. The ones I linked to above include a seahorse, whale, crab, octopus, jellyfish, shark, variety of fish, turtle, dolphin, and hermit crab. Write an S, W, C, O, J, F, T, D, H onto different index cards (one letter per card) or small pieces of paper. Name each letter and review the sounds. Have your preschooler place the stickers on the index card containing correct beginning letter sound.
Write a number from 1-5 on an index card or small piece of paper. Have your child put stickers on the index card to match the number. Do this for all of the numbers.
Simply create a sticker picture by incorporating the stickers into a picture. Use a blue piece of construction paper or draw an ocean on a white piece of paper. Put the different ocean animals in the ocean.
The final way we used stickers was to decorate our ocean diorama, which is described in more detail below.
Sticker activity books are another fun way to incorporate themed learning into your playtime with toddlers and preschoolers. They are a great activity for rainy days! Learn more about each sticker book below by clicking on the cover image 😉
Ocean Diorama
My daughter loves to create. So I decided to save one of our small cardboard boxes from an Amazon purchase to set up an invitation for her to create. An ocean diorama sounded like such a fun idea for her and a special project her and I could do while my toddler napped 🥰
I lined the inside of the cardboard box with blue construction paper. Then, filled a bin with various items for her to use to set up the ocean diorama.
- Assorted Seashells
- Ocean animals drawn with dotted lines for her to trace
- Egg holder cups I cut out from an egg carton to make jellyfish
- Assorted ocean animal stickers
- Pipe Cleaners for creating jellyfish tentacles and sea plants
I explained to her how the project would work and we looked through the bin of supplies. She chose which part of the diorama to do first and I followed her lead. We both had a lot of fun putting it together and she was proud to show off her finished diorama to family 🥰
The diorama worked on so many skills and was a wonderful way to apply all that we learned about the ocean and the animals who call it home. The diorama brought our theme to life. My daughter used it to tell daddy about the different ocean animals she learned about. She practiced tracing lines, following a step-by-step process, threading, cutting and gluing. We engaged in conversation and spent valuable time together ❤
Magnet Learning Activity with Letters
I incorporate learning activities into our day as much as possible. After lunch, my daughter and I enjoy some one-on-one time. During our ocean theme I printed pictures of sea creatures from the books we read onto cardstock and laminated them. I stuck magnets on the back and we put on the refrigerator. I brought out magnet letters, focusing on S, O, J, C, W, D, P and T.
My daughter matched each letter to the sea creature that started with it. We turned it into a game by placing the pictures face-down on the floor. My daughter picked a card, stuck it on the refrigerator and chose the letter with which it started. It was fun and she liked being able to move around!
This Ocean Animals Matching Game is one of the hands-on learning activities included in the Beach & Ocean Themed Early Learning Activity Pack I described in the previous section. One sheet contains the picture cards of the sea creatures and the other sheet contains the letter cards ☺
Under the Sea Games
Matching games are the perfect way for your toddler and preschooler to have fun while developing recognition, memory and communication skills. We recently added the Usborne Under the Sea Matching Games to our collection and my daughter LOVES it. What I loved is the book included with the game. It is filled with fascinating facts about each sea creature featured on the game cards. The book also includes instructions for playing different games. The game boards and game pieces are thick cardboard, making them very durable! This game was a fun addition to our study of the ocean and ocean animals.
Playing simple card games like Go Fish, Old Maid or War are ideal for preschoolers. These games help your little ones practice taking turns, asking/answering questions, and practicing number relationships. This Untamed Oceans Card Deck is perfect for playing these card games. The pictures of the sea creatures are highly interesting for preschoolers and the bold numbers really stand out. These playing cards can also be used for a variety of math learning activities like sequencing numbers and comparing numbers.
Beach & Ocean Themed Early Learning Activity Pack
The following image shows you all that is included in my 63-page Beach & Ocean Themed Early Learning Activity Pack. From cutting practice to counting fun, there are many engaging and meaningful learning activities included in this pack. The Play Doh/Sensory Tray Mats can be used for any learning theme you are planning with your child, as I designed them to be generic.
Each sheet of ocean animals includes more than you would need to glue onto the uppercase letter shape. My goal with the extras is to have your preschooler glue them on a sheet of blue construction paper to create an ocean scene. You can also use them for counting practice with your child. Line up the extra sea creatures and count how many there are of each. Which sea creature has more? Which sea creature has less? You can also compare the sea creatures. Which sea creature is the longest? Which sea creature is the shortest?
If you are interested in doing these beach and ocean themed learning activities with your own preschooler, be sure to click on the image below. This link will take you to my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can learn more about this specific early learning activity pack, make a purchase and/or learn about the other activity packs in my store for more hands-on learning at home with your preschooler.
Conclusion
That concludes the beach and ocean themed learning experience with my toddler and preschooler. We actually watched Finding Nemo as part of a Family Movie Night. My daughter pointed out the pufferfish and hammerhead shark. That made this momma very happy!
I hope that you enjoyed learning about the activities we did for our beach and ocean themed book-based learning. Comment below with the book and/or activity you are most excited about trying with your toddler or preschooler!