Tuesday, July 21

Ocean Life Mat (3-6 yrs)

I recently made this Ocean Life mat to use with our collection of ocean figures. I use the mat to introduce information about animals, plants, and ocean life in general for my preschool age daughter.


The mat was made on a canvas material I found at Walmart for about $3 a yard. I then painted plants, rocks, coral, grass and sand with fabric paint. The first time I introduced this activity, I had my daughter choose one figure at a time, out of the basket. I read a little bit of information about the piece and she placed it on the mat in an appropriate spot. (Starfish live around rocks, angelfish sometimes swim in schools...) Even though it is for my preschool age daughter (due to small pieces), my toddler loved it too. Since I have extra fabric, I am planning to make a toddler version next.

5 comments:

Jennifer Howard said...

Love this, you are so creative!

Lisa said...

Such a great idea! Putting this on my list of homemade Christmas gifts!

Our Little Family said...

What a fun, fabulous activity! We also have a plethora of sea creatures and I know my daughter would love something like this. Thank you for sharing! I just love checking your blog.

Anonymous said...

Neat idea! I look forward to seeing the toddler version. Where did you get the sea animals?

I would love to hear more about your nature table.

Thank you!

Miri said...

Your creativity is so inspiring! Thank you very much for sharing.
I just posted a query on my blog (in English this time:) about the imaginative play. I will appreciate your thoughts..:)
http://mychilddiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/imaginative-play-how.html
Thanks, Miri