Children explore water as a habitat for animals and compare freshwater and saltwater environments. Sensory trays, sorting, simple experiments, habitat models, stories, art, and an ocean bottle support vocabulary about aquatic creatures and the water bodies where they live.
What children learn
- Understand a habitat as a place where living things naturally live or grow.
- Identify animals that live in water and animals that can live both in water and on land.
- Distinguish freshwater from saltwater and identify examples of each habitat.
- Sort water bodies and creatures by freshwater or saltwater habitat.
- Compare the characteristics of water bodies and represent them with physical models.
Key activities
- Exploring water-creature books and creating an underwater sensory tray
- Painting a water scene with sponge printing and fish cut-outs
- Comparing freshwater and saltwater with salt, food colouring, and small toys
- Sorting water-body and creature cards into freshwater and saltwater groups
- Modelling water bodies with sand, pebbles, foil, paper towels, and water
- Creating an Ocean in a Bottle for Show and Tell
You’ll need
water-creature books and picture cards, toy water creatures, blue water beads, pebbles, trays and water, paper, paint, sponges and fish cut-outs, glasses, salt and food colouring, freshwater and saltwater sorting cards, shallow dishes, sand, aluminium foil and paper towels, bottles, shells, ocean stickers and funnels
Structure: 5 days; each day includes a Thought of the Day, Tuning-in Time, GMD, Cognition/Literacy, FMD, and Numeracy activities.