Celebrating World Ocean Day reminds us that as well as helping our children learn about the importance of sustaining our oceans it is also a great way to introduce them to the diversity of marine life.
The deep oceans and seas are full of a variety marine animals and sea creatures which children are fascinated by and give us lots to talk about.
Trish the Fish may be teeny tiny but she can swim very fast. She shoots through the water – swish, swash, swoosh! A tiny flash of light shining bright in the deep dark ocean.
Trish’s story is full of ‘sh’sounds.
Trish the fish is always in a hurry. She swims through a jellyfish, bumps into seahorses, splashes a grumpy crab and crashes and smashes into a sea snail. Bish bash bosh!
How many sea creatures do your children know?
We’ve created some Trish the Fish activities and resources for you to enjoy – download them from our FREEBIES section here.
A sandy beach gives us plenty of opportunities to be active – play ball, run races, to dig and build sandcastles.
Sally the Sea Lion enjoys a game of hide and seek with her best friend Ryan.
Sally can’t see Ryan – can you see him?
Sally’s story is full of sound play with ‘s’ and ‘r’ sounds.
The beach is the perfect setting for a scavenger hunt for shells, pebbles and seaweed. A sand pit or tray can work well too.
Talk about the seaweed – compare and contrast the different colours, smells and textures. Can you find seaweed that pops?
Sea shells come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Put a shell to your ear and what can you hear?
Rock pools are fascinating to explore as well as a novel location for reading!
Grab a bucket and net – what creatures might you catch? Talk about them – what’s the same and what’s different? Don’t forget to put them back in the rock pool!
Children love water play – a puddle or water tray will work well too. Splish splash splosh!
Who lives on the cold and windy cliff top?
Perhaps some puffins who fluff up their featoihers and snuggle together to keep warm.
Clarabelle’s Scarf story is set on her cliff top farm.
Enjoy our free activities and resources to help you get chatting about the beach and ocean. By developing children’s vocabulary and raising their awareness of individual speech sounds you are developing key skills that will support their reading and spelling.
