In April I shared my favorite spring children’s books with you and included brief ideas for art projects to do with each book. This month I wanted to pick a summer read from Emme’s bookshelf. This post contains more details on art activities you can do with your child that encourage conversation about this particular book. Ocean art activities I am an art teacher by trade and I love incorporating books into art lessons! ð
PS – this post contains shoppable Amazon Affiliate links (see full disclosure at the end of post).
Nerdy Babies: Ocean and Ocean Art Activities
Summer makes me think of the ocean. When we got to see family growing up, it was usually over the summer. There were a few lucky summers we got to spend at my grandparent’s cabin in the San Juan Islands. Those are the ones that I remember most fondly. When I read Nerdy Babies: Oceans I immediately thought of all the times I sat in my Grandpa’s boat thinking about what lived under the water!
Nerdy Babies: Ocean, is full of gorgeous illustrations and explains the different parts and inhabitants of oceans. I bought it as a board book but wish I had gotten a hard cover! The very last page has a small drawing of a fun little sea creature with a note that says, “maybe this exists?” That is my favorite line of the book and the inspiration for all of these activities! I had to try very hard to pick just three ideas to share. lol.
Ocean Creature Puppets
Emme has a thing for puppets right now so I immediately thought about creating our own sea creature puppet. I am a novice seamstress but I had felt on hand so I thought simple felt puppets would work! There is a list of other puppet variations below, too. That way you can select a puppet method that suits your child’s age and supplies on hand. ð This is a great project to introduce sewing with if you have slightly older children. I suggest talking about what physical features a creature would need to live underwater when brainstorming!
- Make a sketch of your puppet and decide what colors you would like to use
- Make paper templates for the pieces
- Cut out the paper templates and pin to the felt or trace and draw on
- Cut felt pieces out
- Consider any attachments you may add like ribbons, eyes, pipe cleaners, etc.
- Sew edges together by machine and turn inside out, or sew along edges by hand with embroidery thread
- You can also try fabric glue!
Other puppet creation methods/ideas:
- Paper bag puppets with markers
- Sock puppets with pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and markers
- Felt finger puppets
- Paper mache puppets (bless you if you go this route, it is so messy but so fun)
The best part about this is that the next time you read the story you have an ocean puppet friend to help you! ð
Ocean Sensory Bin
Children of all ages loves sensory bins, right? This is a great activity for younger babies who can’t exactly make their own puppet. Here are ideas for ocean sensory bins (use your own discrepancy for what are appropriate materials for your children). I linked some pins to other wonderful bloggers who have great ocean sensory bins (no point in reinventing the wheel)! These are the water beads I ordered for Emme’s IKEA Flisat sensory table. I plan to sort them by color. ðĪŠ
- Water and cups or ocean figurines: as simple as it gets
- Water beads with ocean toys/figurines
- Blue gelatin sensory bin with ocean toys/figurines
- Ocean soap
- Ocean Pollution clean-up
- Beach sand and water
Ocean Creature Mixed-Up Drawings
A final idea great for older children is to create mixed up ocean creature drawings! This would need to be done with at least one other person (AKA at least you). Select your favorite drawing materials (markers, colored pencils, crayons, etc). Instructions are as follows:
- Each person needs a piece of paper that they can fold into thirds (everyone do it the same direction)
- Beginning with the first third, draw the top or head of a real or imagined sea creature. Draw just barely into the second third.
- Fold that third over when finished, and pass/trade it with someone else.
- With your new piece of paper, use the marks left by the first person and add on to the existing sea creature. Create the middle/torso/belly without looking at what the previous person drew!
- Fold that third over when finished, and pass/trade it with someone else again.
- With the final third, finish the sea creature by creating the bottom/legs/tail.
- Unfold your sea creature to see the final mixed-up product!
A quick note about my style of art education
Please note you probably won’t find many “set-it-and-forget-it” type art projects on my blog for your children. The way I learned to be an art educator was to be an active observer and help children engage with what they are making. I want you to use art-making as a practice to connect with your child and help them explore their world.
Let me know if you do any of these book related ocean art activities, or tag on me on instagram @meganleighacosta ð