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Ocean Animals Shadow Matching

Don’t you just love summer? The sand, the warmth and the lullabies of the birds at night? Summer is one of the best times to expose kids to the ocean and the animals that live in it. Sure they may already know about fishes and sharks but what about puffer fishes as well as seals and killer whales?

Early Preschool and Toddler Ocean Themed Matching Activity ideal for some summer learning before starting preschool in the fall.

My son Caleb loves matching and sorting. He also loves finding a colourful book (no matter what language) and grabbing his sister to look and read the pages. One particular book that they enjoy looking at together is called First Animal Encyclopedia and it is chock full of bright crisp images and little facts for kids to learn. I decided to create an engaging and colourful activity that would combine his interest in animals with his love of sorting and matching. I created his first Ocean Animals Shadow Matching activity.

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WHAT YOU NEED FOR THIS OCEAN ANIMAL SHADOW MATCHING ACTIVITY

In order to recreate our activity you will need to have a few things on hand.

Early Preschool and Toddler Ocean Themed Matching Activity ideal for some summer learning before starting preschool in the fall.

First print the Ocean Animals Shadow Matching Pack on your printing paper. The page with the shadows will be your mat while the coloured page contains the pieces.

Use your stencil to cut out each coloured ocean animal on the page.

Place the shadow page on a flat surface and give your child the cut out pieces. Allow them to match each animal to its shadow.

TIPS

Using a protective sleeve allows the mat to last longer and I also used it to store the ocean animals pieces.

If your child becomes bored after just a few tries, then you can easily ask them to identify the animals on the shadows. Also see if they know anything about each animal. For example, the puffer fish can blow itself up into a large ball when it is scared.

Early Preschool and Toddler Ocean Themed Matching Activity ideal for some summer learning before starting preschool in the fall.

Here are a few other ocean animal activities to try with your kids

Ocean Animals Tangram CardsFind the Hidden Number Ocean Number Cards


cropped-profile-pic-2Alecia is a mom of 2 amazing kids and shares their educational activities such as preschool letter worksheets and activities over at Fun Learning Ideas.


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Early Preschool and Toddler Ocean Themed Matching Activity ideal for some summer learning before starting preschool in the fall.

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Early Preschool and Toddler Ocean Themed Matching Activity ideal for some summer learning before starting preschool in the fall.

Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

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