Ocean Theme: Round 2 (18 months old)
This is actually our second attempt at an ocean theme. Our first was at 16 months old, and it was a bit of a flop - I’ll own that. I put out a bunch of books, sure, but I hadn’t ordered figurines yet, I didn’t have enough fine motor manipulatives, and some of the books were a little too text heavy for a 16 month old. As a result, we read Shark Bite about 500 times with Baby Beluga here and there for good measure.
This time, things are much better. He’s started to show an interest in identifying colors, so I’m really leaning into that this unit. I’ll post a link to all the DIYs at the end of this post when it’s ready.
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Books are the anchor of this themed unit.
Books
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Thankfully there are an abundance of ocean themed books for little ones! There’s a great mix of cartoonish books along with books with photographs or realistic illustrations. Here’s what we used for this unit:
Ocean: A Photicular Book - We’re still a zero screen time family, so Little Guy’s reaction to these moving photos was about the same as mine the first time I saw a 3-D film. There’s a fair bit of text, so he’ll definitely be able to grow into this book. I can see him enjoying this for years.
Baby Beluga Board Book - What’s not to love about this book? We sing along, we flip through and name all the sea creatures, we listen to Baby Beluga 500 times a day.
National Geographic Kids Little Kids First Board Book: Ocean (First Board Books) - We love the photographs and fun facts in this book.
National Geographic Kids Look and Learn: Ocean Creatures (Look & Learn) - This is another favorite this unit.
The Ocean Alphabet Book - Honestly, I think this is a little much at 18 months. I’m glad we have it, but it’s not getting a lot of use right now.
Nerdy Babies: Ocean - Little guy is always more engaged when books include images of babies.
Shark Bite! (Crunchy Board Books) - We picked this up at the aquarium about a year ago and it’s been a favorite ever since! He’s finally gotten the hang of sliding the shark’s teeth up and down.
National Geographic Readers: In the Ocean (L1/Co-reader) - He’s obviously not reading at 18 months, but this book is packed with great pictures and is a great way for him to practice being gentle while turning pages.
Fine Motor
I whipped up this color matching fine motor activity in an evening from a flap from an Amazon box, a toilet paper roll, a paper towel roll, some construction paper, and some leftover felt from other projects. It’s a little challenging for him with just one layer of felt per fish, so I’m thinking about sewing two layers together to make them a little easier to pick up.
Language
Toddlers absorb language like little sponges, so it’s important to be thoughtful about this category. I’ve found that my Little Guy learns so much more when he has figurines to hold and identify. These Wild Republic Aquatic figurines are fantastic. We name them, we talk about the different parts (fin, body, etc.), and any time one of them appears in a book, he runs to the shelf to grab the corresponding figurine.
Colors
Since he’s started to show an interest in colors, we’re really leaning into this. He says “blue,” “pink,” and “yellow,” but not always in response to the correct color. We’ve got three activities and two books to support this skill: the DIY fish color matching game, a Melissa and Doug fish chunky puzzle, some plastic stacking/nesting cups, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and Colors/Les Colours to support his French language development.
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