Ocean Unit Studies and Activities

June 14, 2024 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

It seems like summer is the perfect time to learn about the ocean, and you can even use some ocean-themed printables in the car or plane if you’re traveling to the ocean (I did that once with the printables from the ocean unit study by Natural Beach Living).

Get layers of the ocean printables from Homeschool Giveaways, or do some hands on learning about the layers of the ocean with this activity from Little Bins for Little Hands. That post also includes an overview of the zones and a way to access printables on ocean themed STEM activities.

All of Our Homes has great ideas for an oceans of the world unit study that looks at where the oceans are located, different animals that live there, and activities with links to free resources you can use in your classroom.

Throw in a few books about the ocean and you’ll be all set. We had the National Geographic Kids First Big Book of the Ocean when my daughter was little, then graduated to the Smithsonian’s Ocean! knowledge encyclopedia.

Games are a great way to learn, and these ocean memory cards from The Purposeful Nest can be used as flash cards, pick an animal to learn about or play a memory game with. Or ply ocean bingo with these printable cards from Confessions of Parenting. Simple Everyday Mom has another ocean matching game, which has super cute cartoony characters, perfect for preschoolers.

I try not to include a ton of paid resources in these kinds of roundups, but Inspire the Mom has a gorgeous unit study on ocean animals (among others) that I couldn’t resist sharing. It includes nature study, math, language arts, handwriting and more, and is perfect for homeshooling for kiddos from preschool up through second grade.

Inspire My Play has a great collection of ocean-themed play and craft ideas for little ones, including this super cute ocean cleanup activity pictured above.

Need more ideas? Check out this post on an ocean-themed bump game, more ocean learning activities and some clear ocean slime, perfect for playing with shells and little ocean animals!

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Celebrating Mexican Independence Day

Lots of Americans seem to think that May 5 is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday actually falls on Sept. 16.

May 5 is the celebration of the Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862. Independence Day marks the beginning of their fight for independence from Spain in 1810. That was the day of what’s known as El Grito de Dolores, or the cry of Dolores, for when the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells at his church in Dolores and declared that Mexico should be free from Spanish rule.

They would fight for their freedom until 1821 when they finally gained independence.

Fabulous Classroom has a little of the history and ideas for celebrating the holiday for all age groups. There’s also a link to a good video in that post about the real story of Mexican Independence Day.

Twinkl also has a good tops about the history and different activities, discussion ideas, crafts and foods that can be incorporated into lessons at school or used at home.

I also found a few pins that no longer link to a website but include good information on Mexican Independence Day, including some questions for students to answer based on the reading. You can find more printables and questions for kids from TX Homeschool Mama on Etsy (also available in Spanish).

You can find a lot more paid resources about Mexican Independence Day at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Mexican flag crafts are a fun option for celebrating Mexican Independence Day (though the current iteration of their flag has only been in use since 1968). Kids Activities Blog has a free Mexican flag printable and a few different ideas for decorating it including dot markers and torn tissue paper.

You can also find some great Mexican crafts at Red Ted Art. The post includes all sorts of Mexican inspired projects including Day of the Dead crafts, Frida Kahlo pinatas and upcycled musical instruments. I love the giant paper flowers they shared from Honestly WTF.

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