Read stories such as "Fish Faces" by Norbert Wu, "Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef" by Marianne Berkes or "Somewhere in the Ocean" by Jennifer Ward. Discuss the beautiful and sometimes brightly colored animals that live in the ocean. Hand out a sheet of white construction paper to kindergartners. Provide bright-colored crayons or glitter crayons for students to draw an ocean picture. Encourage students to press firmly when drawing to get a lot of color on the paper. Have kindergartners paint over their pictures with blue watercolor. The watercolor wash gives the background an ocean-like appearance while letting the crayon drawings sparkle through.
Cut out 10 large fish from brightly colored pieces of construction paper. Decorate the fish with eyes and gills. Write the number "1" on the front of a fish and draw one stripe down the side of the fish. Write the number "2" on the front of another fish and draw two stripes down the side of the fish. Continue with the other fish through the number 10. Laminate the fish. Punch a hole in the top of each fish and hook a paperclip through the hole. Tie a small horseshoe magnetic on the end of a 30-inch piece of yarn. Secure the other end of the yarn to a dowel or wooden ruler with masking tape to make a magnetic fishing pole. Have students mix up the fish and place them face up on the floor. Have kindergartners try to catch the fish, in order, from 1 to 10, with a fishing pole.
Hand out a 4-by-4-inch sheet of wax paper to kindergartners. Have them use a glue bottle to draw an outline of a starfish on the wax paper. Have students fill in the starfish outline with glue, then spread the glue around the inside of the starfish with a toothpick or craft stick to fill any holes. Place a paperclip at the end of one of the points so the paperclip sits halfway in the glue and halfway out of the glue. The paperclip will become the starfish hanger. Sprinkle colored sand or glitter over the glue. Let the starfish dry overnight. Once the glue dries completely, have kindergartners peel off the wax paper. Provide a 30-inch piece of yarn for kindergartners to thread through the paperclip. Tie ends of yarn together to complete the starfish necklace.
Read an ocean countdown book such as "Ten Little Fish" by Audrey Wood or "One Giant Splash: A Counting Book About the Ocean" by Michael Dahl. As a class, write your own ocean countdown book on sheets of large construction paper starting at 10, 12 or 15, depending on the size of your class. Give pairs of students a page of the class book to illustrate. Bind your ocean countdown book to keep in the classroom library.
Discuss with kindergartners that the ocean contains saltwater, not fresh water like we drink. Set up this experiment to show students how saltwater is heavier than fresh water. Fill two large bowls with water. Have students help you add tablespoons of salt to one bowl of water and stir. Keep adding salt until the salt no longer dissolves in the water. Have students place a raw egg in the fresh water and see what happens. The egg will sink because it is heavier than the water. Now place an egg in the salt water. It floats. This is because the salt water is heavier, or more dense, than the egg.