It’s summer and how we long to be under the sea! So why not an Explorastory about ocean animals?
Books:
I Spy Under the Sea by Edward Gibbs
The Pop-Up Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae
Who’s in the Sea? by Charles Reasoner
Click Here to Find These Books on the Heights Library Catalog
Rhymes & Fingerplays:
I’m a Little Fishy
I’m a Little fishy, I can swin
Here is my tail, here is my fin
When I want to have fun with my friends
I wiggle my tail and dive right in
Catch a Fish (tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
Catch, catch, catch a fish
Hook it on your line
Reel it, reel it, reel it
This one will be mine
Five Little Fishes
Five little fishes swimming in the sea
Teasing Mr. Shark, “You can’t catch me”
Along comes Mr. Shark as quiet as can be
And he SNAPS that fish right out of the sea!
Continue with 4, 3, 2, 1, o fishes
* This can be done as a flannel story, with paper cutouts or with puppets
I Caught a Fish
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, once I caught a fish alive
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, then I let him go again
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so
Which finger did he bite?
The little finger on the right
Fish in the Sea (great with puppets!)
The fish in the sea go swim, swim, swim
Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim, swim
The fish in the sea go swim, swim, swim
All through the day
Lobsters…pinch, pinch, pinch
Octopus…wiggle, wiggle, wiggle
Crabs…click, click
Clown Fish Lives in the Ocean (another one that’s great with puppets)
The clown fish lives in the ocean
The clown fish lives in the ocean
The clown fish lives in the ocean
His neighbor is the seahorse
The seahorse lives in the ocean
The seahorse lives in the ocean
The seahorse lives in the ocean
His neighbor is the shark
Continue with jellyfish, octopus, starfish, dolphin, whale, etc.
Art:
We provided the kids with die-cut fish and frog shapes to use to make a sea scape scene.
Children pasted the fish and frogs onto a blank piece of paper and then pasted blue cellophane to create the ocean and ocean waves. They could also add in other sea creatures, shells, or whatever else they wanted to their seascape scene.
