Pre-K Ocean Themed Centers & Activities

HELLO! It is ocean week up in here so I thought it would be a good time to give you an inside look at my pre-k ocean-themed activities set.

This set is SO FUN and I know my girls are just going to love it! As I type this, we’ve got the shaving cream ocean rescue in the freezer and are gearing up for an awesome afternoon.

As always, I want to share a few of our favorite themed books that would be great choices for pairing with your ocean themed plans.

Engaging Littles is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. You can read more about this in my disclosure HERE.

Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

Ocean Life by Jill McDonald

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

Over in the Ocean by Marianne Berkes

COUNTING FISH
This is a simple counting and number matching activity. I like to place counting cards like this in a simple rice bin (HOW-TO DYE RICE) and then set the counting mat right next to it. Little ones are then encouraged to pick a card, count the fish, and find the matching number on the mat.

SHARK BAIT
Ready to work on some subitizing skills? Subitizing is the ability to quickly recognize a number in a small set without counting. A perfect example would be recognizing numbers on dice. The more our littles have practice with this skill the faster they become. These mats are great for practicing that skill! Spin the spinner, say aloud the number, then cover the matching dot patterns or fingers.

UNDER THE SEA FRAMES
Grab some Goldfish crackers or your favorite ocean mini erasers and pair them with these ten frame mats. I have included numbers 1-20 so you can easily pull out just a few or them all! Great for number recognition and counting.

SUB SHAPES
This resource includes 2D submarine shape clip cards! Pick a card, identify the shape on the submarine, and clip its match. There is also a recording sheet for your littles to actually trace the shapes if they are ready. Reviewing simple shapes weekly helps littles to fully grasp shape recognition and shape names.

COUNT AND COMPARE
Use this comparison mat to practice identifying numbers then comparing sets to tell which has more or less. In this picture, I show the mat paired with actual seashells to help littles physically count and see each comparison.

FISHY COLOR SORTING
This just might be one of my favorite color sorting mats that I’ve created yet! Those little fish are too cute BUT more than that they are the perfect color mats for this ocean theme. So many ways to use these! Set the fish cards and other manipulatives (pom-poms, magnetic letters, fish toys, etc.)  in a sensory bin and then set out the mats. Invite your littles to sort by color and have fun counting up how many of each color they sort. OR, why not add some paperclips to those fish and give your little a magnetic wand to grab a fish and then sort by color! So FUN!

SEA FRIENDS MEASUREMENT
Loving this one-page measurement mat. Grab some manipulatives and have your little practice measuring by placing objects end to end to tell the length or height of each sea friend.

JELLYFISH TENTACLES
Here’s a SIMPLE butcher paper activity to add to your ocean week plans. Sketch jellyfish heads on a long sheet of butcher paper then set out a few dice. Have your child roll the dice, add the numbers, then draw tentacles on each jellyfish to match.

LITERACY ACTIVITIES

I CAN RHYME
This simple rhyming game is sure to bring to smiles while practicing rhyming! Pick a card, move that many spaces, then identify the picture and share out another rhyming word!

PIRATE TREASURE BEGINNING SOUND MATCH
Time to go treasure hunting! Add these upper and lowercase puzzle pieces to a sensnory bin then have your littles match the letters to each beginning sound picture.

UNDER THE SEA SYLLABLES
For this activity, I plan to set out the syllable picture cards and some blue glass gems. I will ask my girls to pick a card then “swim” the syllables to count how many each sea word has. They will then add glass gems as markers to show how many.

SANDY LETTERS
I remember doing an activity just like this last year and it was a hit! Pour some sand into a shallow tray and give your littles a seashell to write with! My oldest thought this was SO COOL and I can’t wait to see her form letters and numbers this way again this year.

FISHING FOR LETTERS
The fish cards in this set can be used in multiple ways. Use them for upper and lowercase letter matching. Set out just a few and practice ABC order. Place them in a sensory bin and practice letter recognition. You choose!

SIMPLE SENTENCES AND OCEAN WORDS
These strips encourage reading simple sentences and building ocean words. For this activity have your little practice reading the sentence then have them build the underlined word using magnetic letters.

MORE OCEAN FUN

SEASHELL OBSERVATIONS
Setting out a tub of seashells and some magnifying glasses makes for a great science center for littles! Let them explore, examine, and talk all about seashells!

OCEAN SHAVING CREAM RESCUE
I can’t wait for my girls to dive into this activity this afternoon! This one is pretty simple to set up. Fill a cake pan with shaving cream then add a few drops of food dye to the top and swirl in. We did yellow for sand and blue for water. Then stick in various ocean items and FREEZE! Once it is frozen take it outside for some messy play fun!

OCEAN POM-POM MATS
This resource includes a few pom-pom mats for working on fine motor skills. Pull out the mats and pair with pom-poms and tongs for an easy center activity at home or in the classroom!

OCEAN SENSORY BIN
Here is an example of an ocean-themed sensory bin. In this bin, I used a combination of sand and blue-dyed pasta for the filler. I then just tossed in various ocean-themed items with some scoops and tongs! The set up was super simple to create and I know it will be inviting for my girls.

I seriously am SO EXCITED for these next few weeks of ocean fun here with my girls and I hope this post was helpful in sharing a look at my PRE-K OCEAN THEMED ACTIVITIES SET!

Browse the post again for some inspiration or head to the SHOP HERE if you want to check out this resource.

When are you doing ocean week?