BEACHY OCEAN THEMED SNACKS
SNACK FISHING
For each child, fill a small cup with goldfish crackers.
Supply pretzel rods for fishing poles and peanut-butter to put on the ends to use as bait to snag the fish.
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FISH IN THE STREAM
Fill celery with cream cheese and top them with goldfish crackers!
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BEACH AND OCEAN SUGAR COOKIES
Make or purchase large round sugar cookies.
Have children cover half of the cookie with 'blue food color tinted' frosting. Sprinkle sugar on the other half. (Ocean and Beach!)
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CELERY SAIL BOAT
Cut large celery stalks in half. Fill each half with peanut butter, cream cheese or Nutella.
Place a triangle shaped crackers in the center of each to simulate a sail.
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KISSES and FISH PRETZELS
Ingredients:
Checkerboard, windowpane or round shaped pretzels
Choice of Hershey's Kisses of Hugs chocolates
Gold Fish snack crackers
(KidActivities used only chocolate kisses and cheese flavored crackers--any flavor cracker will taste great!)
1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. Open the bags of pretzels and place them on a parchment or waxed paper-lined cookie sheets in a single layer. DO ONLY ONE TYPE OF CANDY PER SHEET because the 'Hugs' melt faster than the kisses.
3. Unwrap Hugs or Kisses, place one on each pretzel, repeat for an entire cookie sheet.
4. Place cookie sheets in the preheated oven; bake 4 MINUTES FOR THE SHEET OF pretzels and HUGS---5-6 minutes for the pretzels and KISSES. Remove from oven and immediately place a gold fish on top of each pretzel/chocolate, pressing down gently.
5. Place cookie sheet in freezer or refrigerator until the chocolate is reset. (Image/sample by KidActivities.net)
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OCEAN SNACK MIX
When serving a group of kids that all like something different...Put out several ingredients. For our "Ocean Snack mix" choose from...
• Goldfish crackers, plain or cheese (Fish)
• Cheerios and/or Froot Loops (Life Savers/Life Rings)
• Pretzel sticks (Pieces of drift wood)
• Raisins, Yogurt covered raisins and/or chocolate chips (Small stones and pebbles)
• M&M's (Colorful beach glass and stones)
• Mini marshmallows (Foam of the waves)
• Chow Mein noodles (Sea Weed)
1. Put the variety of ingredients out in bowls. For some added fun--make small signs with the name of the "Ocean Themed" ingredient and place in from of each food choice. Draw or cut out pictures for children who can't read!
2. After children wash their hands--give them each a baggie. (To keep track of whose is whose - have them write their name on it) The ingredients will then go into each child's baggie with their choice of mixes.
TIP from Snack Mix page: Let children know how much 'measurement-wise' they can take of offered foods; also how many choices they can have. Example: Each child can take 1/2 cup of 4 food choices offered.
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FISH SWIMMING IN A JELL-O OCEAN
Ingredients/Materials
Small fish bowl or clear glass bowl
Swedish or gummy fish
Blue Jell-O mix
Make blue Jell-O according to directions. (The sample used blueberry)
Pour into clear container or fish bowl. (The sample fish bowl used in the image used 4 small packages of Jell-O with 4 cups of boiling water and 4 cups of cold water)
Refrigerate until the Jell-O begins to thicken. Add fish--they may need to be poked down a bit to suspend them 'Under the Sea' or Ocean.
For foaming waves--cover or serve with whipped cream or topping. Be sure to have extra 'fish' so each child gets one...
NOTE: Fish will fall to the bottom of the Jell-O--if they are put in Jell-O before it has thickened a bit. After fish are placed in the Jell-O Ocean, they also tend to soften. It is best that the Jell-O be eaten within a day after it is firm. Small white and black jelly-beans
can be placed on the bottom to look like stones.
This may also be made in individual small clear plastic cups. Image by KidActivities.net
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"ANTS" IN THE BEACH SAND
2 Graham crackers
Chocolate sprinkles or raisins
1. Place graham crackers in a plastic sandwich bag and crush with a rolling pin.
2. Add a few chocolate sprinkles or raisins to make ants; seal the bag.
3. Give the bag to the kids to take outside to eat; they can also pour it into a small bowl and eat at the table (Using their fingers, of course.)
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ANT HILL on the BEACH-- Make edible ant hills in cups!
Use clear plastic punch cups to see the layers.
1. For the 'sand" layer--first put vanilla or butterscotch pudding into the cup.
2. Crush graham crackers in a plastic Ziploc bag and pour the crumbs into the cup for the ant hill "sand".
3. Add chocolate chips or raisins for the "ants".
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SANDY SHELLS (Most kids like pasta tossed in butter!)
Ingredients:
Pasta shells
Butter or Margarine
Grated Parmesan Cheese (The Sand)
Optional: After defrosting frozen spinach--drain and pat spinach (sea weed). Toss in with shells and butter.
Following package directions--Boil shell macaroni until tender.
Have children add butter or margarine to drained pasta. (If adding spinach--do so before butter is added)
Sprinkle on parmesan cheese. Can also sprinkle on parsley (more sea weed) for color.
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...MAKE MAC AND CHEESE adding a drop of blue food coloring...
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APPLE PALM TREE ON THE BEACH
Ingredients:
Apple or pear slices (The palm Fronds)
Favorite variety of graham crackers (tree trunk)
Peanut butter--if no allergies (Beach)
Raisins (Coconuts)
Simply create tree as in the image by KidActivities. Have extra ingredients to munch on!
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MISCELLANEOUS OCEAN FUN
IDEA to expand on...TAKE AN OCEAN CRUISE
THEMES ARE GREAT to culminate the school year or to build day camp around! (Actually, themes are wonderful ANY time)
Example is adapted from Lori Eisner in Florida... Her last week of school is Caribbean/Ocean week.
Children imagine they're all on a CRUISE SHIP leaving from MIAMI, FLORIDA ON MONDAY and sailing to different islands.
PORTS OF CALL:
Tuesday: Arrive in Grand Cayman
Wednesday: Oranjestad, Aruba
Thursday: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas
On Friday: Back at school. (You can choose your own islands.)
• During the week limbo, hula, make fruit smoothies, try exotic fruits, read island books, and learn about the ocean.
• Have children wear cruise wear all week; play Caribbean music, bring beach towels and relax! (See 'Water Games' category of KidActivities)
The last day of school is a luau.
• Kids could make/wear a white T-shirt that says, "Aloha ______ 2012" with a hibiscus drawn on the front and the autographs of children on the back.
• Have children create visors; girls wear hula skirts; boys wear Bermuda shorts. Create lei's out of beads, foam flowers, and other materials. (See lei craft in the Ocean Themed Arts and Craft section - scroll half way down the page) A fun way to end the year! These are just ideas and can be combined any way you wish...
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LITERACY AND DISCUSSION...
How Do YOU SAY_________ IN SPANISH?
• Clam - Macha
• Conch - Concha
• Crab - Cangrejo
• Fish - Pescado (As food), Pez (Alive)
• Flounder - Lenguado
• Hermit Crab - Cangrejo emerito
• Jellyfish - Medusa
• Lobster - Langosta
• Ocean - Mar
• Oyster - Ostra
• Puffer Fish - Pez Globo
• Sea Horse - Caballo de Mar
• Sea Gull - Gaviota
• Sea Star - Astrella de Mar
• Sea Urchin - Erizo de mar
• Shark - Tibaron
• Shrimp - Gamba
• Snail - Caracol
• Stingray - Raya
• Sun Star - Sol de Mar
• Wave - Ola
• Whale - Ballena
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Read the RAINBOW FISH BOOKS. And then...
Make rainbow fish by coloring, painting, decorating and putting sequins on cut out fish shapes.
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SCIENCE
Make some SALT WATER...
Leave it in a warm place for a few days.
Questions to ask:
What happens when salt dissolves in water? What happens to the standing salt water after a few days? Why?
ANSWER...Salt dissolves in water. That does not mean that the salt disappears when this happens.
The salt and water are mixed together in the solution. When the water evaporates, the salt is left behind. The sodium and chloride atoms rejoin with each other.
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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEA AND OCEAN?
A SEA...
is a large body of relatively deep (usually salt) water with limited or no connection to the greater oceans of the world.
An OCEAN...
is a vast body of salt water forming the interconnected waterway that surrounds the entire world. Oceans are deep and derive their currents from a complex system variable water temperatures and weather systems borne out of their varying depths and their absorption of the sun's radiated energy.
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HOW MANY OCEANS ARE THERE IN THE WORLD?
According to the NOAA, There is only one global ocean.
If you look at a map of the globe, it's easy to see that there is really only one ocean.
While there is only one global ocean, the seas are geographically divided into the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern (Antarctic) Oceans.
These five oceans are not separate bodies of water; they form one continuous oceanic mass. The boundaries between these five oceans arose over time for a variety of historical, cultural, geographical, and scientific reasons.
• The Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans are known as the three major oceans.
• The Southern Ocean is the 'newest' ocean. The boundaries of this ocean were set in 2000 by the International Hydrographic Organization.
Information Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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This is Page 2; return to Page 1 for Art, Crafts and Games
OCEAN Theme in the works...MORE IDEAS COMING SOON!
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