Through dramatic play, children are able to experiment and learn about the world in a safe, contained environment. When studying the ocean, engage children in a ocean-themed dramatic play. Cover the walls of your dramatic play area with different shades of blue paper to simulate the ocean water. Hang pictures of aquatic life on the walls and fill the area with plush aquatic animals. Place shells and rocks around the area. Provide children with flippers, snorkels and goggles to wear as they pretend they are swimming under the ocean water.
Allow children to express their creativity, hone their fine motor skill and learn about the ocean in a hands-on way while creating ocean-themed arts and crafts projects. Provide children with shells, sand and pictures of ocean animals and have them use the materials to create ocean collages. Provide them with paper plates, gray paint and crepe paper streamers and encourage them to create octopuses. Make fish from old CDs by having children cut out fins from construction paper and have them glue them onto the CDs.
Incorporate an ocean-theme into preschool literacy instruction. Fill your classroom library with a variety of ocean-themed books, such as "Swimmy" by Leo Leoni, "Sea Turtles" by Gail Gibbons, "What's Under the Ocean" by Janet Craig and "Ocean" by Ron Hirschi. Invite your students to look through the books during free time or during the literacy block of the day. Use the word "ocean" to teach children about the letter "O." On a piece of paper, write an uppercase and lowercase letter for each student. Have children identify the letters and trace them. Talk about how the word "ocean" begins with the letter "O" and ask children if they can hear the sound the letter makes in the word.
Have your students investigate the ocean through science and discovery activities. Help them fill water bottles with sand, fish-shaped confetti and water dyed blue with food coloring. Have them shake the bottles and watch as the objects move around -- explain that the water moving inside the bottles simulates the waves moving in the ocean. Explore buoyancy by filling tubs with water and provide children with different items, such as feathers, cotton balls, rocks and blocks. Invite children to predict which items will float or sink in the water and then allow them to test their predictions.