Transportation By Water

Welcome to Blue Bird Day’s Weekly Lesson Plans. This week we’re working on the theme Transportation by Water! Read below for more themed lesson plans and activities.

Table Time Activity: Alphabet Boats

Materials:

  1. Alphabet Boats by: Samantha R. Vamos
    1. Read aloud video
    2. Online book
  2. Table Activity
    1. ISpy: Water Worksheet
    2. Boat Ride Tracing Worksheet
    3. Boat Craft
      1. Egg Carton
      2. Paint/markers/crayons
      3. Construction paper
      4. Popsicle sticks
      5. Stickers

Skill Check

iSpy: Water Worksheet: This activity focuses on visual perception.

Boat Ride Tracing Worksheet: This activity focuses on fine motor skills, visual-spatial skills, pre-writing skills.

Boat Craft: This activity focuses on fine motor skills, shapes identification, creativity.

Growing My Skills

Follow one-step directions.

Follow link to image and print.

Go through each item that you will be searching for.

Find each item and count the amount.

Cross off/dot/or X each item as you count, if needed.

Write correct amount on paper.

Floortime Play Activity: Float the Boats!

Materials:

Plastic container or bucket.

Toy boats.

Skill Check

The goal of this activity is to spend time together in a playful, imaginative way. There should be limited structure and a lot of pretending.

Growing My Skills

Fill a bucket with water and add in the toy boats.

To expand the play, add in sea animal toys or use cups to fill the boats up with water!

Race the boats across the water, take turns with different sea animal toys, or see how much water you can add to the boat before it sinks.

Relaxation Time Activity: Baby Beluga

Materials:

Baby Beluga Video

Skill Check

Watch a Blue Bird Day Occupational Therapist sing and learn all about an animal found in the ocean: the beluga.

Growing My Skills

Sing and dance along!

After you’ve watched the video, have your child name other animals you’d find in the ocean. Then, make those animal’s sounds!

Creative Time Activity: Water/Boat Sensory Bin

Materials:

Toy boats.

Water.

Bubbles (for the water).

Skill Check

The goal of this activity is to engage and explore familiar things in a new way to build imagination skills!

Growing My Skills

Gather materials.

Help your child explore/engage in play with water and boats.

Ask your child questions that will help them connect with what they are playing with; where do we see boats at? What can we do with water? (swim, take a bath, drink, etc.)

Movement Time Activity: Swimming

Materials:

Scooter board or yoga mat.

Skill Check

The goal of this week is to master your “swim on land” skills, using both arms and legs simultaneously while on your stomach.

Growing My Skills

Lay over a pillow or couch cushion to make swimming just a little harder.

Try swimming with your eyes closed.

Flip onto your back while on a pillow and try a back-stroke.

Swim with only the right side of your body, isolating your movements. Switch to only the left side next.

Mealtime Activity: Food: Sink or Float

Materials:

Towels.

Bucket for water at least 7 inches deep.

Fruits and vegetables from the fridge of varying weights. Example:

Float: whole bell peppers, lemon, strawberry.

Sink: carrot, kiwi, potato.

OPTIONAL: Whipped cream or cotton balls to line the top of the bucket to make it look like clouds. Blue food coloring for the water in the bucket as the “sky.”

Skill Check

The goal of this activity is to explore fruits and vegetables by asking will they sink or float.

Growing My Skills

Gather towels, bucket and materials, fruits, and vegetables.

Encourage the child to label the food and to make guesses about whether the food will sink or float.

Place each food into the bucket and watch the result.

In line with the theme of air travel, pretend the foods are airplanes and let them “land” on the clouds (ex: whipped cream or cotton balls) watch them fall through the clouds or float on top of the clouds.

Language Time Activity: Water Play

Materials:

Water Bucket.

Water-safe toys.

Water Balloons.

Rain Stick Materials:

Paper towel roll.

Dry rice.

Duct tape.

Decorations (stickers, paint, markers).

Skill Check

The goal of this week is to work on pragmatic language skills of taking turns, receptive language skills of answering “wh-” questions and expressive language skills of expanding utterances and talking about attributes of common items.

Growing My Skills

Fill a bucket, tub or pool with water and place water-safe items inside.

During water play discuss which items are “heavy” and “sink” and which are “light” and “float.”

Have your child help fill up water balloons – discuss colors and that the water goes inside the balloon to change its size and shape.

Take turns tossing water balloons. Label whose turn it is!

Make a rain stick using the materials listed above. Have your child use their words to request specific items that they need/want.

Talk about what rain sounds like and play with rain stick.