This week’s theme:
Mysterious Places – The Ocean
This week’s colouring in sheet:
Download and print this week’s underwater colouring sheet Here!
Fact of the day:
Over 70% of Earth is covered in water, this is why it’s often known as the ‘Blue Planet’.
Resources list:
Cardboard box, creative bits and bobs; Youtube; Poem download; Water, cups, salt, sugar, bicarb, objects to float and sink e.g. grapes; Ziplock freezer bag, blue hand soap or hair gel and a touch of blue food colouring, water, sand and some ocean objects; Seahorse download, glue, colouring pens or paints, bun cases.
Activity 1:
Make an underwater diorama, or display in a cardboard box – here’s a few for inspiration: Idea 1. Idea 2. Idea 3. Idea 4. Idea 5. Idea 6. Idea 7. Idea 8.
Why not take a photo of your underwater scene and share it with us? You can share it on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!
Activity 2:
Listen to some sounds from the deep ocean. Can you mimic any of them.
Can you do any impressions of marine animals like Dolphin calls, Beluga Whales, Sea lion, Walrus, Whale song.
Activity 3:
Read, or have somebody read to you ‘The Ocean’s Secret’ poem here.
Come up with some actions to act the poem out – can you move like the waves, or the crabs; can you scream like the wind or shriek like a seagull; can you feel rocks and sand; can you smell or taste some salt water; can you put your hands or feet into some tide waters; can you move back and forth like the tides; can you beat out a rhythm on your thighs of the in-and-out; can you do deep breaths like the tide moving in and out; can you do some power poses like the unafraid tides; can you add glitter to a jar of water to create sparkling, mysterious waters?
Activity 4:
Salty ocean water is different from fresh river water. Try an experiment… Dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in one cup, 2 tablespoons of sugar in another cup, and 2 tablespoons of baking soda in a third cup. Be sure to leave one cup as plain, fresh water. Add objects to your cups, such as grapes and see which grapes float and which sink. Salty water is more dense. This means it gets heavier. Many objects that sink in fresh water will float in salt water!
Activity 5:
Try some ocean exercises…
Starfish stretch: Stand with your feet wide apart, reach your hands out to the side as far as you can. Keep your back nice and tall and remember to breathe.
Crab yoga: Sit on your bottom with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on the floor behind your hips, shoulder width apart. Straighten your arms and lift your bum up off the ground. Hold and lower. Remember to breathe.
Sea lion movement: Standing up hold a small object such as a ball or cushion between your knees, turn out your toes on both feet to each side. Walk around without dropping the ball.
Squid stretch: Stand or sit up tall, with legs hip width apart. Place your palms together in front of your body and breathe. Raise your hands up over your head, palms still together. Look up and breathe.
Lobster pinch: Sit or stand with your arms outstretched. Open and close your fingers to stretch your hands like a lobster’s claws.
Pufferfish breathing: Stand or sit up tall with your hands on your stomach. Breathe in and feel your stomach rise. Breathe out and feel your stomach go in. Try it a few times.
Activity 6:
Make an ocean sensory bag to feel the water between your hands, or under your feet. You’ll need a secure ziplock freezer bag, blue hand soap (or hair gel and a touch of blue food colouring), water, sand and some ocean objects (plastic marine animals, shells, 3D homemade tinfoil fish, laminated pictures, etc) to feel for in the sea. Try and squeeze out as much air as you can so that the bag lies flat. You could tape all the edges too to make sure you don’t accidentally pop it!
Activity 7:
Make a Seahorse using this template to colour in, and decorate with bun cases for fins.
Add-on activity:
Play this online underwater bubbles game, catch only the bubbles by using your arrow keys.
Or play this Sea Pong game using your cursor to move your octopus and bat the ball back and forth.