Make a Splash with Ocean Books, Crafts, and Activities
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Have you signed up for the summer reading program at your local library? This year’s theme (at most public libraries) is Make a Splash – READ! We got signed up last week and we’ve been enjoying all the activities our local branch has to offer. We attend children’s story hour on a regular basis, but it’s exciting to see so many new families making the library a part of their summer vacation. Our library staff is really playing to the theme.
Sparkly Fish Decoration
This week’s story hour craft was a cute and easy fish to hang in your window or on your patio. Materials include: 2 CDs or DVDs (out of style or a little scratched are just fine), craft foam in the color of your choice, glue, thread or floss, and optional googly eyes or stickers.
- You’ll cut two triangular fins, fishy lips, a tail, and a center fin shaped like an eight from the craft foam.
- Glue the edges of the triangular fins, tail, and lips just inside the edge of the label side of the first CD.
- Glue second CD on top, label sides together.
- Push center fin through holes of CDs. Punch a small hole in top fin and thread hanger through.
- Add eyes to CD with stick-ons or markers.
I don’t have the templates as all pieces were precut for us, but if it gives you fits, contact me and I’ll trace the pieces from B’s.
Vacation-Inspiring Learning Activity
Another fun feature this week was a presentation on tide pool life. The kids listened to a short presentation on the animals that inhabit different types of seashells while they passed around examples. Then they got to practice their matching, detective, and map skills as they looked for creatures matching their handout in gridded tide pool model boxes around the room. B was not really ready for the grid skills (the octopus is in B7), but we treated it like a game of Eye Spy: he looked at the pictures on the handout, pointed them out in the boxes, and I recorded. After looking at all the seashells and listening to the conch, I’m longing for the beach!
Oceans: Fiction and Non Fiction
We couldn’t enjoy these activities without taking home some ocean-themed books, and I decided the combination of the fish craft and the shell demonstration was a good bridge to the concepts of fiction and non-fiction. Preschool is the age to differentiate the cognitive concepts of fantasy and reality, and all it takes is an explicit mention of which stories are true and which are imaginary. We brought home Life in an Ocean
, by Carol Lindeen, and Over in the Ocean
, by Marianne Berkes. Life in an Ocean introduces several sea creatures with simple text and photo illustrations. It also includes a short glossary and additional ocean facts at the back. Over in the Ocean is a variation on the traditional Over in the Meadow poem, and you can count sea creatures and enjoy the rhythm and rhyme.Appropriate for: Toddlers, Preschoolers
Linking up With:
Feed Me Books FridayMeme’s the Word (on Saturday)
5 comments:
We were just at the library looking for ocean books, these look good, too!
I loved ocean books when I was growing up and my kids have loved them as well. I've not heard of these, but will have to look them up when we study the ocean this year.
What fun to bring the library theme home!
Both books look really neat, and I liked that CD craft - very cute. Unfortunately, my library has neither book, but maybe I'll order the first one via Link+
Our summer reading program is "One Green World" and I signed up for the adult program, too! Unfortunately, I'm not doing as well as the girls--my books are a little longer! :)
I'll definitely be back for FMBF! You'll be a great hostess!
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