Over in the Ocean: Learning Activities

Aside from building our coral reef and reading books on the ocean (get our booklist here), we managed to squeeze in some other ocean-related activities:

:: A visit to the aquarium at the zoo: Junior J was quite delighted at being able to identify many of the coral reef creatures that he had pasted up in his own reef.  And the hermit crab was very active that day, scuttling up and down in the tank!

:: Writing practice: I printed out a prewriting sheet and some related words for the boy to practice his writing (these were laminated and we used a washable marker, so that the sheets can be re-used).  Previously he was resistant to trying to learn how to write, but I think his interest in the marine creatures helped.

:: Maths: The boy actually was interested in working on his addition, thanks to all the ocean critters!   (Printed from here.)

We also did a pegging activity to work on his counting (he still misses out 15 when he counts):

And some puzzles that involved numbers as well:

:: Science: We made a wave bottle...

... and watched a couple of videos on the coral reefs too (this and this on the reefs, plus this on on the crown of thorns starfish).

:: Geography: I printed, laminated and cut up a world map for him to piece together, and then he got to fish for some marine creatures (you can get the map with the creatures here, at the blog's Facebook page).  These we stuck up the creatures where they were found (he was initially reluctant to work on the map, since he isn't too fond of puzzles, but he stuck to it as he wanted to give the mola mola a home!):

All in all, we had quite abit of fun learning about the oceans and seas!  I think we might revisit this theme again if we visit the beach.  What are your favourite activities to learn about the ocean?