Homeschool: Oceans

A great unit for the summer! This unit leads us nicely into our Summer Fun unit! My kids are fascinated by the ocean. Kyrie really took an interest in the light depths of the ocean (eg. sunlight, twilight, etc.) and deep-sea creatures. She asked me to help her find information to make a folder about the ocean depths similar to the one she made about the rainforest layers. We had lots of fun books and extra activities, including some tasty snacks (most of which are not pictured).

Degen working on his unit folder. 

Degen's folder

Kyrie working on her unit folder.

Kyrie's folder. We couldn't find many stickers with animals that leave in the midnight zone of the ocean, so Kyrie drew in some of her favorites, including the angler fish.

The kids thought these were a fun treat!

The kids' interest in certain activities ebbs & flows (much like the ocean tide- ha!), but this unit the were really into puzzles. They had some great teamwork going on when they completed the floor puzzle below! 

Though I only got a picture of the final product, the kids headed back into the kitchen to make this cool ocean cake. They mixed the batter and added food coloring to make the cake blue. I put on the blue frosting and the kids added sprinkles shaped like ocean rock, sea stars and fish to make an edible ocean scene. They were very excited about this yummy project. 

Blurry photo, but my cutie crab!

A sticker pic that Degen did during his free time. I always love seeing my kids in the 'quiet' room during their free time.

 I am always on the look-out for educational and/or creative toys. We were wandering one of the kid resale shops and found a great ocean-themed gear set at a great price. Later the same day, the kids opened the box and had a great time putting together the different ocean scenes. They were pretty excited to see how their simple machines worked... and when they got frustrated, we talked about ways to troubleshoot or improve upon the given designs.