Ahhhhh, the ocean. One of my favorite places to be. Listening to the waves, toes in the sand, smelling the salt air all bring me a sense of peace. Bringing kids to the beach can sound like it might disrupt that peace, but I am going to show you how to do a stress free ocean unit study!!
Living in New England certainly opens up the opportunities to hit the beach and look along the shore for all its wonders. We certainly do plenty of that here in the summer months, but we recently did a full Ocean Unit Study, or Marine Biology, in the late winter!
Prepping to hit the waves, I guess, but it shows how you can study anything anywhere with some simple resources.
If you want to see why I prefer a simple Unit Study plan you can check out this post.
Then, to get started, grab my Simple Unit Study Plan FREE printable. This is the outline that I have used to create this Ocean Unit Study.
OCEAN STUDY OBJECTIVE
Using the ocean as a classroom and learning about the sea with all it’s amazing creatures can be so much fun!
The options for studying the ocean are as vast as the sea itself, however. There are ocean zones, coral reefs, sea creatures, sharks, dolphins & whales, and so many more!
The topic I am going to outline for this simple unit study is the oceans sea shore! The tides and what washes up on the coastal beaches everywhere.
BOOKS & PRINTABLES
Since the objective is to focus on the sea shore you will want to choose books and printable that are specific to this area. If you have an ocean themed nature book you will likely find some pages included in there that are specific to the shore.
Here are a few perfect books for this Ocean Shore Unit Study that you can purchase or borrow from your local library:
- Look Inside a Tide Pool by Louise Spilsbury
- On The Beach – An Usborne Lift-The-Flap Book
- A Walk By The Seashore by Caroline Arnold
- In One Tidepool: Crabs, Snails, and salty Tails
- I Wonder Why the Sea Is Salty and other Questions about the Ocean
- Ocean, Visual Encyclopedia by Smithsonian
- Ocean: DK Eyewitness
- Hello, World Ocean Life by Jill McDonald
- Wish for a Fish, Cat in the Hat
Now for printables.
You want some pimple printables that are easy and stress free, like print and go. You should also have the kids draw and color into their nature journals or notebooks. This is a simple way for them to explore a specific shell. Then they can color them and even draw their own seashore.
Here is a simple kid’s Beach Scavenger Hunt printable I have created to make it super easy for you.
I love to pop mine into a dry erase pocket and hand the kids an expo ma
A few additional free printables I found that fit perfect for this study are:
- Several seashell coloring pages
- Rainy Day Mum has a cute Tide Pool Scavenger Hunt
- Cut & Paste Create your own Intertidal Zone printable.
These are just a few suggestions to make it super stress free for you!! You can check out my Nature Science Pinterest board for even more ideas over there.
OCEAN ACTIVITIES & CRAFTS
Having lots of different shells, sand dollars, and star fish for the kids to observe and draw was key for this unit study.
Using some sand, rocks, blue colored water, and a large container we made a tide pool for the kids to get their hands in. They could place the shells in it and we had some plastic crabs, lobsters, sea turtles, and fish to use their imaginations with the tide pool.
Even some LEGO guys got in the fun with the sharks (gotta love boys).
Stress Free Ocean Study Extra’s
After you have done some reading, exploring, and creating you might want to sit back and enjoy a few YouTube clips that the kids will love!
- SciShow Kids What do you hear in a seashell?
- Exploring for Tide Pool Creatures has some cool finds.
Get the kids out there beachcombing and finding all the treasures left behind with the tides. Grab these super handy collapsible pails for easy packing too.
You can also create some wicked fun Beach Art Portraits with what you find. Check out THIS post to see what we came up with!!
What types of ocean items do you and your kids like to study? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear.
Best,
To get started, grab my Simple Unit Study Plan FREE printable.
