School is out and summer is in full swing over here!
If you are home with the kids like myself, you probably feel the struggle of keeping them occupied on the daily.
Since I work from home, I can’t always be off on an adventure with the kids during the week. However, I do try to pre-schedule as much content as I can when possible!
Chris and Hailee are teenagers so they often can find things to occupy themselves with. Bella on the other hand, she has become increasingly needy since summer vacation began.
While the older kids do help a lot, I can’t expect them to occupy her all day every day.
This is where the idea of a DIY Summer Camp at Home came to life. Bella loves activities, and will do them independently for the most part.
DIY Summer Camp at Home
Summer camp isn’t always an option for many families, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create your own at home DIY summer camp!
DIY Summer Camp At Home Week 1: Ocean
In this edition of DIY Summer Camp at Home, it is all about exploring the ocean!
From books, to sensory bins, crafts and more, your little one will love learning about the ocean through creative play.
1. Ocean Book List
Whether your little one is gearing up for their first year in school, or they are already in school, reading is important to keep up over the summer months.
Bella just finished junior kindergarten and is a book-worm! She loves to read, so including reading into our weekly at home summer camp was a no-brainer.
Below is a great list of ocean themed books to pick from to include in your summer camp.
I have linked to the books on Amazon.ca for my Canadian readers, and Amazon.com for my US readers. All you have to do is click on the book title to be taken to the Amazon page for that book!
Shop Ocean Themed Books Canada
- Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef
- Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems
- House for Hermit Crab
- I’ll Follow the Moon
- Kids Unplugged Ocean Quest (Activity Book)
- Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures
- Hark! A Shark!: All About Sharks
- I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean!
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean
- Moonlight Ocean
- Mister Seahorse
- Commotion in the Ocean
- Peanut Butter and Jellyfish
- Hooray for Fish!
- My Little Golden Book About Sharks
Shop Ocean Themed Books USA
- Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef
- Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems
- House for Hermit Crab
- I’ll Follow the Moon
- Kids Unplugged Ocean Quest (Activity Book)
- Wish for a Fish: All About Sea Creatures
- Hark! A Shark!: All About Sharks
- I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean!
- National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean
- Moonlight Ocean
- Mister Seahorse
- Commotion in the Ocean
- Peanut Butter and Jellyfish
- Hooray for Fish!
- My Little Golden Book About Sharks
2. Ocean Play Dough Mat
Play dough offers hours of creative play and learning.
It encourages their imagination, ability to recreate from memory, and strengthen their fine motor skills too!
This fun ocean themed play dough mat is the perfect backdrop for little ones to create an ocean wonder.
Supplies:
- Play Dough (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Plastic Ocean Animals (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Plastic Ocean Plants (generally comes with plastic ocean animal packs)
- Pipe Cleaners (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Seashells (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Play Dough Tools (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
Directions:
- Download and print the coral reef play dough mat (see below).
- Laminate the mat for extended play.
- Invite your little ones to make ocean plants and coral reef with play dough and pipe cleaners.
- Add in plastic ocean animals, plants, and seashells for more fun!
Gather your supplies in a container for easy access by your child.
Let them get creative and create their own idea of what the bottom of the ocean looks like.
Click Here To Download And Print The Coral Reef Play Dough Mat
3. Ocean Colouring Pages
Kids love to colour and it is a great activity to enhance their fine motor skills.
While colouring, encourage and help them practice holding their crayons, pencil crayons, or markers the proper way.
This is a skill we are still working on with Bella, and one that is important for proper writing.
A trick that we found to work well is try having her put something under her ring and pinky fingers.
Those two fingers are supposed to bend toward the palm while the other fingers do all the work. However, some kids have a difficult time with this because they can’t separate the two sides of their hand.
This little trick will help take care of that!
It doesn’t matter what they put under their last two fingers, as long as it isn’t too big or too small.
A few items that work well are: a cotton ball, small ball of play dough, bead, or a marble.
Click Here To Download And Print The Ocean Colouring Pages
4. Ocean Learning Pages
I find preschool to kindergarten aged children love worksheets.
One of Bella’s favourite things to do is grab her big binder full of laminated worksheets and have at it.
She honestly spends hours learning, to her it is a fun activity, and to me it is peace and quiet!
I actually need to invest in either a second binder or a larger one, hers is almost filled to the max.
This 8-page package comes with the following:
- A is for Angelfish Tracing Word/Letters Page
- B is for Blowfish Tracing Words/Letters Page
- C is for Clownfish Tracing Words/Letters Page
- Tracing Lines Page
- Draw Facial Expressions Pages
- Colour the Picture(s) and Trace The Words Pages
If you’d like to make your printables for long-term use, I highly suggest laminating them. Invest in some good quality dry erase markers in a variety of colours too for colouring/printing.
Click Here To Download And Print The Ocean Learning Pages
5. Ocean Sensory Bin
One of my favourite things to create when I worked as an ECEA in a private daycare were sensory bins.
Since Bella was old enough to play with sensory bins I have been creating them at home for her too.
If you have never heard of, or created your own sensory bin, here are some key benefits of sensory bin play:
- COGNITION AND PROBLEM SOLVING
- LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
- SOCIO-EMOTIONAL SKILLS
- FINE MOTOR SKILLS
- CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATIVE PLAY
This ocean themed sensory bin is packed with fun, learning, and lots of different textures.
Supplies:
- Blue Rocks (gravel) (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Play Sand (Dollar/Craft Store or your local beach LOL)
- Plastic Ocean Animals (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Seashells (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
- Plastic Sea Plants (generally comes with plastic ocean animal packs)
- Plastic Bin (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar Store)
Directions:
- Place blue rocks (gravel) into a plastic art activity tray. Leave a bit of space for play sand.
- Next, add in some play sand.
- Add seashells and mini plastic sea plants to the play sand.
- Next, add some mini plastic ocean animals to the blue rocks.
- Invite your little ones to explore the “ocean” and the “beach.”
- For more fun, add some water to the rocks! The sand will get wet and they can make tiny little castles.
6. Shark Craft
Give a kid a basket of craft supplies and you’ll be surprise how quickly they focus.
This shark craft is super fun, helps continue to improve fine motor skills, and afterwards you can frame their creation!
Supplies:
- Blue, Gray and White Cardstock
- Tissue Paper
- Googly Eyes
- Glue
- Scissors
- Black Marker
- Seashells
Directions:
- Download and print the shark template (see below).
- Cut the template out and trace onto gray cardstock.
- Next, cut a mouth from white cardstock and glue onto the shark.
- Use a black marker to outline the shark and add detail.
- Glue googly eyes onto the shark.
- Use tissue paper to glue a sandy bottom onto blue cardstock. Twist green tissue paper and glue behind the yellow tissue paper.
- Glue the shark and shells onto the blue cardstock.
- Last but not least, draw some bubbles using a black marker.
Gather all the supplies they will need for the craft.
Download and print the shark template (see below).
Cut the template out and trace it on gray cardstock, then cut it out.
Next, cut a mouth from white cardstock and glue onto the shark.
Using a black marker, outline the shark and add detail.
Glue googly eyes onto the shark.
Use tissue paper to glue a sandy bottom onto blue cardstock. Twist green tissue paper and glue behind the yellow tissue paper.
Glue the shark and shells onto the blue cardstock.
Next, glue some sea shells on.
Last but not least, using a black marker draw some bubbles on the blue cardstock.
Let the craft fully dry before hanging up or framing.
Click Here To Download And Print The Shark Template
7. Sand Letter Tray
The purpose of a sand tray is to help little ones learn to trace/write letters, numbers, and words.
It’s a great way of letting young children experience letter and numeral formation while improving their motor development.
Let’s not forget how much fun sand is for kids! When you make learning fun children are more likely to participate and absorb what they are learning.
Supplies:
- Wooden Tray
- Coloured Sand (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar/Craft Store)
- Glitter (Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Dollar/Craft Store)
- Paint Brush
Directions:
- Paint a wooden tray with yellow paint or any colour of your choosing.
- Allow the paint to dry completely.
- Stir glitter into coloured sand and then add the sand to the wooden tray.
- Print the letter/sight word cards (see below).
- Cut your seashell letter/sight word cards out.
- Laminate the cards for extended play.
- Invite your little ones to draw letters in the sand.
Tip: If you can’t find coloured sand, you can use food colouring to dye regular sand.
Gather your supplies, set aside the sand and glitter for now.
Paint your wooden tray and allow it to dry.
While your paint is drying, mix together your sand and glitter.
Add your sand to your dried wooden tray, a thin layer is all you need.
Download, print, and cut out your letters/sight words.
For long-term use I suggest laminating them. You will want to do this after you have cut out each letter/word.
Simply place a few of the cutout seashells into a laminating sheet, ensuring you leave enough space around each to cut while still having a sealed border around each.
Add in some seashells, ocean animals or plants.
Now that your sand letter tray is complete, encourage your little one to draw letters and words in the sand.
Click Here To Download And Print The Seashell Letter and Sight Words
Laminating
If you have little ones, a laminator is a great investment!
By laminating all of Bella’s play dough mats and learning pages, it allows for her to use them more than once, and for us to pass them on when we are done with them.
Amazon is where I bought my laminator, and where I buy all of my laminating pouches.
They have the best deal on laminating pouches, cheaper than Walmart (I checked), so buy them from Amazon if you don’t have any at home!
Canada:
SCOTCH LAMINATOR ON AMAZON CANADA
SCOTCH THERMAL POUCHES ON AMAZON CANADA
USA:
SCOTCH LAMINATOR ON AMAZON USA
SCOTCH THERMAL POUCHES ON AMAZON USA
Don’t forget to check out the Kids Corner section for more great crafts, printables, and learning fun!
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ivy pluchinsky says
These are such great ideas!