Have the students pretend that they are on the top level of a lighthouse. Choose an area of the room to be the sea and tell the students there is a boat out there. Ask them if it would be near or far and how big it may look. If you have a toy boat, use that as reference. Then ask for ideas about what else they may see around a lighthouse. Examples may be a dock, boulders, airplanes or seagulls. Ask if these things would appear near or far. Let the students know that from the height of a lighthouse everything would appear tiny or far away.
Using construction paper, have precut rectangles in various colors for the students to choose from. Give each one a basic white piece of construction paper in the shape of a lighthouse. The rectangle will need to differ slightly in size to fit the dimensions of the lighthouse from top to bottom. With glue, allow them to adhere the rectangles onto the lighthouse. Students will need to properly match up the correct size rectangle with an area on the lighthouse.
You will need a large jar of sand and watered-down poster paint. Combine the paint and sand until all the sand is dyed blue. The students can help by shaking it around. Go outside to let the sand dry in the sun while the students collect pebbles. Once dry, dump the sand into a small tub and have the children line up the pebbles to create a rocky shore. If you have shells or other small items, add these in as well. Add one of the lighthouses from these other activities to it or make small paper boats to sit on the "water."
If you have a small classroom, create a larger paper lighthouse as a group. Cut poster board so that is is 1 foot wide and 7 inches tall on one side, 13 inches on the other side. Roll the paper up so that it becomes a cone shape and glue into place. Using a 1-inch rim from a paper cup, slide it down the top of the cone until it can't go further. Secure with glue. Place a 6 oz. cup bottom on the top for the windows and a 5 oz. cup on top of that for the room. Let students use acrylic paint to decorate the lighthouse. Add stones or other decor as wanted.