Toddlers and preschoolers love to celebrate. So does this Mommy! One of the silliest, but best holidays around is Submarine Day (March 17th)! We’ve been reading about Curious George’s adventures in “Curious George Discovers the Ocean.” We got our copy through Scholastic Books, but you can also find it on Amazon. I’m an affiliate, so if you order it through this link I think I get a whole penny, maybe two 🙂 LOL
Ladybug (3 years old) and Owl (2 years old) both love following along with the story. The book is intended for preschool children 4-7 years of age, so my munchkins are on the younger side for some of the scientific details, but they are very entertained by the story. I get a huge kick out of them explaining sonar and the food chain over dinner – so really, it’s been a good introductory level book for some of those concepts too!
Both kids love story props. We often make them out of flannel or paper, but this time we decided to go with foam. Foam is awesome, because when wet it will stick to fun surfaces like windows and mirrors!
First, I hand drew a little submarine based off of this much larger one I found at Pattern Universe. I made my hand drawn efforts of the submarine and some sea creatures available to you in this Submarine and Sea Creatures Template. The submarine was pretty easy to do. The sea creatures took a little bit more time to cut out.
Next I placed my drawing on top of a 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 inch foam sheet (aff link). I used one toothpick to keep the paper in place. The other toothpick I used to make an image of the submarine onto the foam by poking through the image along the drawn lines.
My son, Owl was fascinated with the entire toothpick poking process and ended up ignoring his coloring sheet to help me cut out the submarine shape.
Since, he was so fascinated with the process I decided to let them play with my shapes and then give them the option of making their own.
The kids had a blast sticking the foam shapes in the water and moving them around the window.
The kids both decided that they wanted to try making the shapes. Ladybug decided she wanted to make a purple submarine (of course). Owl opted for a blue dolphin. Also, not a surprise.
Both kids showed some wicked awesome fine motor control with this activity. My son and daughter LOVED poking the toothpick through the paper to the foam. We actually spent some time in free play just making shapes and other items on the foam for them to cut out themselves!
The actual cutting out of the shapes was a little trickier. The image of Ladybug’s submarine did come through on the foam, but she lost interest about half way through cutting and the end result resembled more of a rectangle.
Sweet Owl’s dolphin turned out looking more like a small deformed fish…..BUT this was one psyched kid, screaming, “Look! Look! It worked! My dolphin stuck to the window!!!” You go kiddo! LOL
Keeping it real, keeping it fun! Happy Submarine Day!
Looking for more Submarine Day fun?
Check out all the great posts at Witty Hoots International Submarine Day Hop!
Join us as we celebrate International Submarine Day – 17th March with a whole host of some wonderful submarine activities, crafts and play ideas from around the globe!
Adventures of Adam shares a brilliant Plastic Egg Submarine idea
A great Submarine Pretend Play Periscope idea from Peakle Pie
Try making a Yellow Submarine Collage inspired by Witty Hoots
Pray Species shares an interesting idea with their Submarine Preschool Fun with Foam
Homemade Under the Sea Battleships is another great idea from Kiddy Charts. Use stones and a chess board to make your own battleship under the sea themed game!
Brain Power Boy makes some Perler Beads Submarines that look great and are a super craft too!
The Truck that Wanted to Be a Submarine is a lovely class book review from Kelly’s Classroom
Play and Learn Everyday make and explore a Submarine in a Bottle!
An Easy Submarine for Kids to Make sounds like amazing fun from The Usual Mayhem
Little Bins for Little Hands explore some wonderful Submarine Science!
