Make science come alive for your students by using art, movement and ocean sounds to teach lessons about the ocean and the creatures living in it.
Sea Star Elementary Art and Science Lesson
During this lesson students will identify where a sea star (formerly known as a starfish) lives, what a sea star looks like, and what it feels like.
- Introduce the sea star to the students by reading them an ocean-themed picture story book. As you read, point out the sea stars to the students. Ask them to describe what the sea star looks like and where the sea star lives.
- Pass a real sea star around the room for the students to touch. Have volunteers describe what the sea star feels like and record their responses on the board.
- After they have described the sea star, the students will make their own sea stars. Have them draw a large star shape on oak tag or cardstock.
- They will then cut out the stars and use a paint brush to paint watered-down school glue across the entire shape.
- Next have the students sprinkle play sand on the star to give the sea star its bumpy texture.
- While the sea stars are drying gather the class together and ask them what they now know about sea stars. Record their answers on a large piece of construction paper and display the sea stars around it on a bulletin board.
Ocean Animal Movement Lesson
After learning about different types of animals that live in the ocean, have the students demonstrate their knowledge by moving like the ocean animals.
- Tell the class to stand in an open space and perform ocean animal movements such as swim like a fish, walk like a seagull, wiggle like a sea snake, and blow bubbles like a blowfish.
Seashell Sea Turtle Elementary Art and Science Lesson
During this lesson students will use a KWL chart to increase their knowledge of sea turtles and use objects from the ocean to create sea turtle models.
- Evaluate the class’s prior knowledge of sea turtles by asking the students to list or draw everything they know about sea turtles on a KWL chart.
- As a group, have the students generate three questions that they want to know the answers to and list the questions on the board. Have the students copy the questions on the W section of the KWL chart.
- Show the students a video about sea turtles. Discuss the video and write the information that they learned from the video in the L section of their chart.
- Pass out seashells, stones, dried seaweed and art supplies and invite the students to use these ocean objects to create a sea turtle.
Ocean Music Drawing Lesson
This activity can be used at the culmination of an ocean unit to assess student knowledge.
- Play a CD of ocean sounds and ask the students to close their eyes and imagine what is happening in the ocean. Ask them to think about what the ocean looks like, what creatures are in the ocean, and what the sea creatures are doing.
- Give them crayons and have the students draw everything that is happening in the ocean. When using this activity as an assessment you can give the students specifics such as draw five sea animals and two sea plants.
- After the students are finished have them use watered down blue washable paint to paint over the entire picture.
- Display their drawings outside of the classroom under the title, “An ocean of knowledge in our classroom!”
More ocean-based lessons: Teach your students math patterns, reading comprehension and how to share in The Rainbow Fish lesson plan, make an interactive fish bulletin board and make frog puppets in The Letter F lesson plan, and teach the water cycle using the The Letter W lesson plan.
