Under the Sea Activity Ideas

One of the things I love the most about Science Sparks is theming our activities, so today I've got some great Under the Sea themed learning ideas to share. These are mostly suitable for Early Years/Kindergarten age, but all could be extended for older children too.

If you like these activity ideas, remember to check out my complete collection of Early Years Science ideas.

Under the Sea Themed Activity Ideas for Early Years

Under the Sea Sensory Jar

Make an Under the Sea themed sensory jar. This is quite a large example, but you could use small water bottles and make lots of mini sensory bottles.

Ocean themed density bottle or sensory jar. A great sensory activity for Early Years

What can you do with a sensory jar?

What happens if the jar is put on one side? Try simulating the motion of waves.
How many shells can be counted on the bottom?
Ask children to find an object that will float on top of the oil.
Try hiding some plastic letters to spell out a word.
Think about why the oil floats on top of the water. This is because oil is less dense than water.

More under the sea themed activity ideas

Try to clean up a mini oil spill. This is a great activity for starting to think about the effect of human activities on marine life.

oil spill activity. Image shows a glass tray filled with blue water and a layer of vegetable oil floating on the top.

We love this small world ocean theme from Rainy Day Mum.

Red Ted Art has a super cute octopus made from tights.

How gorgeous is this under the sea playdough from The Imagination Tree?

ocean themed play dough from The Imagination Tree

Paint an under the sea themed picture on ice ( fun for summer or winter )

an under the sea picture painted on a sheet of ice

Try some ice fishing. This is a brilliant activity for learning about freezing and melting!

a container of water and two children doing an science experiment where they drop ice cubes into the water like a fishing rod to investigate how fast the ice melts

Learn about pollution with our ocean themed jar, again you could do this on a much smaller scale than our large container.

Jar of water with sand at the bottom and toy fish. The jar has litter and black food colouring in to demonstrate the effect of pollution of marine animals.

Crack the code in the shells to find a hidden message. This is a great first coding activity for young children.

Make a shoe box ocean scene. This is a great prop for talking about what you'd expect to see in the ocean ( I can't take credit for this as my daughter made it in school ), but we did add a moving fish to the side and have been making up stories using little extras for inspiration.

Red Ted Art has some beautiful turtle crafts if you fancy adding a turtle to your ocean scene.

More ocean themed activities for kids

Ask some questions. Why is the ocean blue? is a good place to start!

Find out what would happen if the ice caps melted with this very visual demonstration.

Find out about the effect of single use plastics on the ocean.

Learn about an ancient fish called a Coelacanth.

Make a Rainbow Fish with lots of silver foil scales. Children can then practice sharing the scales evenly between the fish.

Visit an aquarium if you are lucky enough to live near one!

Jelly fish from Monterey Bay Aquarium — Jelly fish in Monterey Bay Aquarium

Ocean Themed Book Suggestions

Our current favourite book for an ocean topic is What a Shell Can Tell. This is a fascinating book about the wonders of shells. The question and answer format makes the book easy to dip in and out of and really showcases the huge diversity of shells around the world! Did you know that there is a type of shell shaped like a little elephant's tusk?