Ocean is a big theme at our house. When we first started talking about which of the Giles Andreae books we wanted to read the girls picked out several of them and we picked them out. The finally picked the ocean book we had and love by her!
Commotion in the Ocean is one of our favorite books in the house. I think we have read it as many times as we have other books. For a while we read just poem at a time. This is a book of poems about animals in the ocean.
What you need for this activity: blue water beads, Safari Ltd Ocean TOOB
and Safari Ltd Coral Reef TOOB
.

For out activity this month we read the poems and pulled out ocean animals from our Ocean Water Bead Sensory Bin.

After we were done playing with the bead. This is a fun activity for all kids. They each got their own time with the bin. My youngest talked about fish. My middle said the beginning sound of each animal. My oldest wrote down names and later wrote on the Ocean Writing Paper information about the animals. They had fun playing and taking turns looking at the animals

They also enjoyed just playing all together with the beads. It lets them enjoy some times learning to share.

Be sure to take time to look at all the different textures in the water bead sensory bins. The toobs make these lots of fun.

Here are some Giles Andreae that you can check out:
Looking for more Ocean Activities? Check out the round up of all the Ocean and Beach Activities on 3 Dinosaurs.
Cassie – 3Dinosaurs.com
We haven’t tried water beads yet thanks to an inquisitive 2 year old, but this looks like such a fun idea!
I know several people that use tapioca pearls instead of water beads.
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You take wonderful pictures! This activity looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing with After School link up!
Water beads look like so much! I haven’t seen them in the Netherlands yet [surely they must be somewhere…], but I keep seeing them all over the internet. I’m really looking forward to trying them out with my toddler. Your sensory bin looks so inviting and fun 🙂
Check on amazon for Europe and see if they have them. They have also been called water gems. They are what you find in the flower sections.
I like the additional sensory element of the beds to represent things under the water. Great idea!
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