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Ocean Animals for Kids Unit Study

What are some good ocean animals for kids? And what are some creative and fun ways to teach about them?

Today I’m sharing a fun, new Ocean Unit Study I just listed in my Etsy store, along with some great resources for diving into ocean animals and the amazing habitat they live in.

This Ocean Animals unit was made for Prek through 2nd grade but can definitely be adapted for older kids as well. It highlights twelve ocean animals: their characteristic, traits, anatomy, and the watery habitat they live in. Let’s check it out!

How to teach a unit study on ocean animals for kids

First of all, how do you teach kids about a group of animals that is so vast and so diverse? Where do you start?

I think the easiest thing to begin with is to choose a select group of common ocean animals. Focus on building a foundation then you can expand from there.

Here are a few learning goals for introducing ocean animals to kids:

  • Start by building knowledge with a select group of ocean animals (name, behavior, appearance, diet, etc)
  • Learn about the ocean habitat and what it uniquely provides for this set of ocean animals.
  • Hand’s-on exploration and ocean activities
  • Expand knowledge through of ocean animals books and media.
  • Work on basic, age-appropriate skills through ocean animal-themed math, literacy, handwriting, poetry, and nature play.

Top Ocean Animals for Kids to Learn

For this unit we chose twelve marine animals to focus on. This is by no means an exhaustive list; However, it’s a starting point for you to build on. Here are the top 12 ocean animal for kids that this Ocean Animals Unit introduces:

  1. Sea Turtle
  2. Walrus
  3. Humpback Whale
  4. Killer Whale
  5. Crab
  6. Great White Shark
  7. Fur Seal
  8. Stingray
  9. Dolphin
  10. Octopus
  11. Shrimp
  12. Tuna

Ocean Animal Habitat for kids

The ocean has so many things you can explore. Wanting to give my kids an overview of the big picture, here are a few things about the ocean habitat that we focused on for this Ocean Animals Unit:

  • The five oceans of the world: Pacific, Atlantic, Southern, Indian, Arctic.
  • The ocean depths: Sunlight, Twilight, Midnight, Abyss, and Trenches
  • What the ocean provides us with: Food, weather, home, health, energy, fresh air, and new discoveries.

Media and Books about Ocean Animals for Kids

(There are Amazon Affiliate Links in this post.)

Books and media play a huge role is building our kids knowledge on a certain topic. For learning more about ocean animals, we’ve enjoyed watching some of the Good and Beautiful Homeschool Science Videos and some of the National Geographic marine life videos for kids as well.

In this Ocean Animals Unit pack, I share a printable list of book ideas (picture books and reference books) about ocean animals that we’ve used and loved. To get started, a great reference book is the Ocean Anatomy book by Julia Rothman.

Ocean Animals for Kids Full List of Unit Activities

This Ocean animals unit bundle has a nature pack, math pack, literacy pack, and handwriting pack. Along with special add-ins like simple sea-food recipes, and coloring pages. (You can get these packs separately or get the Ocean Animals Unit BUNDLE.)

Ocean Animals Nature Pack:

  • Unit Planning pages
  • Ocean animal book list
  • List of activities
  • Ocean Animals poetry, handwriting pages, and puppets
  • Seafood (kid-friendly) recipes
  • Animal match up puzzles
  • vocabulary cards
  • Ocean animal poster
  • 2-part flashcards
  • The ocean provides page
  • Ocean depths activity
  • Oceans of the world activity
  • Types of sharks (half page emergent reader)
  • Animal fact cards
  • Sea turtle life cycle
  • Shark and seal anatomy labeling activities
  • Killer whale activity pages
  • Ocean animals reporting pages
  • Color the other side
  • Ocean animals memory game
  • Aquarium visit scavenger hunt
  • Word search
  • dolphin and walrus page puzzles
  • ocean animal coloring pages

Ocean Animals Math Pack

  • Shapes poster and practice
  • Hundreds chart
  • Three digit addition
  • Addition fluency lists (ocean passport)
  • Ocean animal graphing
  • Number words 1-20 (print & cursive)
  • Ocean Animal skip counting puzzles (10s.5s.2s.3s)
  • Clock practice
  • Doubles addition puzzles
  • Fraction practice
  • Roll and build addition and subtraction practice
  • Fact families
  • Draw the other side (symmetry)
  • Number practice sheets (count/ten frame/tally/write/trace)
  • Before and after
  • Even and Odd sorting
  • Counting clipcards
  • Pattern grids

Ocean Animals Literacy Pack

  • Oceans and Me (questionnaire)
  • Beginning & ending sound clip cards
  • Simple sentences and reading passages (reading comprehension)
  • Word Family Sort
  • Contraction word puzzles
  • Word Builder (CVC words)
  • Noun and verb sorting
  • Upper and lowercase trace
  • I See Ocean Animals (half-page emergent reader)
  • Ocean animal paths (prewriting)
  • Ocean animal report template
  • Upper and lower case match

Ocean Animals for Kids Copywork

  • 12 ocean animals featured
  • 2 pages per animal
  • Animal facts copy work (both in print and cursive)

Ocean Animals Alphabet Tracing Cards

  • A-Z ocean animal alphabet tracing cards (4 per page) (print and cursive)
  • All alphabet handwriting practice sheets (print and cursive)

Ocean Animal Unit Download on Etsy

Are you ready to learn about some ocean animals with your kids? You can download the Ocean Animals Unit Bundle today and get started. Great for Homeschool and classroom use!

Quick facts about ocean animals for kids

How many animals are in the ocean?

It’s impossible to know the exact number of species that live in the ocean due to the sheer size and expanse of the sea. However, some scientists estimate over a million species live within the ocean waters.

What is the most common animal in the ocean?

Krill is considered the most common animal in the ocean. Krill are very important to the ocean habitat because they are the main food source for marine predators like seals, whales, and penguins.

What animal is king of the sea?

You could say the Killer whales rules the ocean waters because they have no known predators and are at the top of their food chain.

What is the biggest thing in the ocean?

Weighing in at around 200 tons, the Blue Whale is the largest animal in the ocean. In fact, it’s the largest mammal on earth.

Why are aquatic Animals so important?

Besides the fact that aquatic animals are a major food source to humans, each animals plays an important role in energy production, disease prevention, pest control , air quality, and ecosystem balance.

Why is it important to learn about marine animals?

The animals that live in the ocean and it ocean itself relate directly to the air we breathe and to the food we eat. Learning about these animals and their habitat make us aware of our responsibility to take care of these invaluable resources.

More Animal Unit Studies

*This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.

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