Through games, music, books, crafts, science experiments and more, today we learn all about the ocean and the letter O! Kids will love and learn from these creative and hands-on Letter O activities for preschool. This post includes all you need to teach the free preschool lesson plan O is for Ocean.
This lesson continues ouralphabet lesson plan seriesand is intended to help make your experience teaching preschool in your home easier, educational, and more fun.
Preschool at Home
The best part of doing preschool at home is the chance to teach my kids (and whatever buddies are with us) the things that really matter, laugh together, and shower them with love at this young and important age. My hope is that these lesson plans and activities help you in your efforts to do the same.
If you haven’t seen myquick tips for getting started with successful home preschool, check them out.
Use and share these plans to talk, sing, read, write, and play your way through the alphabet; these kinds of activities are thefoundation of building strong readers. You can use our full lesson plans, or, of course, pick individual activities to do with the Littles in your life. I am also a budget-friendly Mama, so no worries there: our activities are always easy on the pocketbook. Now, let’s get to it!
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Visit thePreschool Lesson Plan Indexto see what free plans are published or in the works!
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INTRODUCTION
Gather on the floor for circle time and start with a welcome song. We have been singing,“Hello to All the Children of the World”.Each week we briefly spotlight one of the countries or geographical features in the song.
Last week we learned about towns, so this week we talked a little about the sea to go with the line, “And children who live down by the sea.” We talked about how the sea is a body of water. Another name for sea is ocean.
We found the blue ocean on the World Map, and found the one closest to where we live.
Click image for purchasing information.
Because we are learning a lot about the ocean in our lesson today, that was all for the introduction.
Write and Play: I Spy the Letter O
I introduced how we write the letter O by making a round shape. We drew the o in the air.
We played a simple I Spy the Letter O game to practice finding the O. Look around the house for the letter O. It might be on a book, a label, or the round shape of a hair tie.
To make it more exciting for your Littles, you can have them take a picture of each O they find.
Sing: The Sound of the Letter O
I introduced the two sounds of the letter O. Then we sang the simple LeapFrog phonics song with the short and long sounds a few times to practice. “O says oh…O says ah…”
On a side note, my kids have had and used the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set
forever. (This is where we learned the song) They have each loved the set, and the simple song is a great way to teach and/or reinforce the letter sounds.
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(This is the new version of what we have.)
Last we just listed several words that begin with the letter o.
Talk: O is for Ocean
There are a lot of words that start with the letter O. The one we are going to learn all about today is Ocean!
I asked what my Little knew about the ocean. Did she remember when we visited the ocean? What lives in the ocean?
Read: Look Inside Seas and Oceans
We learned about the ocean by digging into a few nonfiction books.
Try Look Inside Seas and Oceans from Usborne
, which has a lot of flaps and great information, or search your local library for nonfiction titles about the ocean.
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Nonfiction titles are a great way to learn a lot about diverse topics. Additionally, it’s smart to help our kids see that these kinds of books are interesting too, as well as stories.
Many times nonfiction books have more text than is necessary for a preschool setting. Choose a book with interesting pictures to keep your Littles intrigued and then share some of the text as you look through.
Play: Fishing Game
We played a fishing game to learn more about some of the interesting creatures that live in the ocean.
Before preschool, I had prepared the game using this Free Ocean Animals Fishing Game Printable.
The couch was our boat, and the kids took turns fishing. As they “caught” each animal, I shared the interesting facts that are included in the printable. Little #4 was amazed by a lot of the information.
My kids LOVED this activity.
They caught each animal over and over. By the end, Little #4 could name each animal by its shape on the back! 🙂
Sing: Once I Caught a Fish Alive
After the fishing game finally wrapped up, we gathered back in our circle area and sang 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I Caught a Fish Alive.
This is a fun, catchy song that also helps kids practice counting to ten and determining left from right.
Use your fingers to count along, and of course, wiggle your right hand pinky-finger when the song gets to that point.
Kids need repetition to learn and variation to stay interested in songs. Sing this song a couple times, varying it by singing loud, soft, fast, or slow.
Read: The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
is a great rhyming read-aloud about a fish who learns to smile after he gets some love.
Click image for purchasing information.
Smile, Pout-Pout Fish (A Pout-Pout Fish Mini Adventure) by Deborah Diesen
is a shorter version of the same story with the same message. I recommend either.
Click image for purchasing information.
After reading the story, we talked about how in the end, Pout-Pout Fish could choose if he wanted to frown or smile. We discussed some of the things that help us feel sad or happy and thought of a few ways to help others feel happier.
Sing: Smiles
We sang Smiles together, as a fitting follow-up to The Pout-Pout Fish.
If we were ever grumpy growing up, we were sure to hear this little song. 🙂
Play: Ocean Animal Obstacle Course
We practiced moving like different ocean animals through a simple obstacle course. It wasn’t a timed course or a competition, just a chance to move in fun ways.
For example, do the crab walk from here to there. Next, pretend your limbs are suctioned to the ground and slowly move like a sea star. Swim like a fish, and glide like a flying fish.
Alternately, you could turn on music and encourage kids to try movements to the music like different kinds of animals.
Play: Float or Sink Science Experiment
Our next activity was a simple science experiment called Float or Sink, and since it included playing with water, it was a big hit!
To introduce the experiment, we talked about swimming and how we learn how to stay up in the water. This is called floating. When things fall down toward the bottom, it’s called sinking.
We gathered several objects from around the house to experiment with. Some ideas include a crayon, paper, toys, or a ball. Make sure everything is water proof.
Alternately, you can gather these items on your own beforehand.
Feel free to use the Sink or Float Science Experiment Printable. Take the first object and write or draw its name on the first line of the the chart.
Next, guess (the fancy word for guess in science is hypothesize) if the object will sink or float in the water.
Then, put the object in a large pot, bucket, or sink full of water. See if the object sinks to the bottom or floats on top. Record the results on the chart.
Afterwards, discuss (if your Littles are able, they can write answers) the last questions on the worksheet. What are you learning from this experiment? What further questions do you have?
Expand on the Science
This is a really cool time to take it a step further and help your Little design another experiment. Maybe you could dissolve a lot of salt into the water and see if that changes anything. Perhaps you could see if you could create a boat that would hold up one of the objects that sinks.
You can discuss the next experiment, or if you have time and means actually do it.
This simple science experiment is a great introduction to several scientific principles such as starting with a question, hypothesizing, and recording results. Plus, kids have a lot of fun with it!
Talk: Ocean Conservation
We talked about some of the things that threaten the oceans and ocean animals. What can we do to make a difference?
Some ideas for personal ocean conservation include to limit waste and dispose of it properly, respect animals and critters when you visit the beach, and volunteer to help clean up local beaches. Here are more ideas to help our oceans.
We can’t do everything, but we can do our small part and that can make a difference.
Read: The Parable of the Starfish
The Parable of the Starfish is a motivational story about how one person can make a difference. If you know the story, tell it. It’s a good skill for Littles to learn how to listen to stories, even if there are not pictures.
If you’re not familiar with the story, you can read a version of it here.
Write and Craft: Ocean Animal Mobile
We used the animals from our Ocean Animals Fishing Game Printable, and created an Ocean Mobile.
I printed the animals in black and white, so Little #4 could color them. She cut out the animals and practiced writing the first letter of the name of the animal on the back of the picture.
It was fun to use these animals because she felt like she knew about them from the fishing game.
After cutting out the pictures, she taped ribbon to each one, and we practiced knotting the ribbon around a hangar. You could also gather or create other objects for the mobile such as sea shells.
She hung the mobile in her bedroom and enjoyed watching the animals “swim” around as they blew a little here and there.
Eat: Foods that Start with the Letter O
Here are some snack ideas of foods that start with the letter O: oranges, oatmeal (hot cereal, in granola, granola bar, or cookie), okra, orange juice, onion rings, onion flavored chips, Oreos, omelet, or olives.
Alternately, you can go with the ocean theme and have fish crackers, Swedish Fish, blue finger jello, or fish sticks.
SING:GOODBYE SONG
We closed up by reviewing our letter of the day, what Letter O looks and sounds like.
Lastly, we sang our goodbye song and see you next week!
Our next preschool lesson will be Letter P is for Planets. It has a lot of fun activities!
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Leave a commentand share how you include numbers and math concepts in your everyday parenting. Also, let me know what activities your Littles are enjoying, what types of posts you’d like to see, or any other questions or thoughts you have. I love hearing from you. Share pictures on social media using #lovinlifewithlittles. Thanks for visiting, and Happy Preschooling!
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