We love hands on science ideas for kids! We learned to identify and classify marine mammals from other ocean life in this sensory sorting activity.
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Last summer our toddler loved sorting land and water animals in real water. I remembered what a successful activity this was as we planned to review marine mammals with our older daughter for a homeschool science lesson.
The first task our kids had was finding ocean animals in our large bin of Safari Ltd. and Schleich animal figures. We discussed how marine life means animals that live in the ocean's salt water.
Once we had marine animals separated, I put them in a bowl of water for our sorting activity. What kid can resist playing in water?
The kids took turns selecting an animal from the bowl to classify it as a marine mammal or a different ocean creature like a fish or invertebrate. Our son D chose his manatee first and knew that it was a mammal since it breathes air.
We discussed how marine mammals give birth to live young and nurse their babies with milk. It was perfect to have a mini Humpback Whale toy to show with its mother!
Our kids remember many marine mammal species from our whale and dolphin watching tour last year. We (surprisingly) don't have a narwhal toy but they correctly told me that a narwhal is a whale. I wasn't sure about that one so they are teaching me facts, too!
Of course, they were very happy to continue to play with their animals in the water after our science sorting was complete.
This was a hands on marine biology lesson that included a bit of sensory play in water as well! It's the perfect idea for a water table with your preschool or homeschool unit on ocean animals.
Ocean Currents Science Experiment from Life Over C’s
Ocean Animals Food Chain Printables from Living Life and Learning
How Do Fish Breathe? from Parenting Chaos
Why Can't Freshwater Fish Live in the Ocean? from Schooling a Monkey
{FREE} Ocean Animals & Plants Cards from Preschool Powol Packets
Ocean Animal Addition Cards from The Kindergarten Connection
Ocean Animal Vocabulary Cards from The Letters of Literacy
Super Simple Edible Coral Reef from Lemon Lime Adventures
Coral Reefs Game from Line Upon Line Learning
Number Bonds with Shells from Kidz Activities
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