Create an Underwater Ocean Scene

What You Need:

• Paper plate
• Crayons or markers
• Blue plastic wrap
• Tape
• Optional: sand or saltine cracker crumbs, fish-shaped crackers, shell pasta

What You Do:

1. Help your child draw a line across the inside of a paper plate about 3/4 of the way down from the top. This will be your ocean floor. You can decorate the ocean floor simply by coloring it, or consider gluing real sand or very fine saltine cracker crumbs below the line to represent the sandy bottom.
2. Encourage your child to use crayons or markers to draw plants and animals found in the ocean. If she’s never seen the ocean first-hand, then start with a book from the library about oceans. Or maybe share pictures of a time you went to the beach. Talk about the kinds of animals and plants that live there.
3. For extra 3-D fun, try gluing fish-shaped crackers or pasta shells to the ocean scene.
4. When your child is done, cover the plate with blue plastic wrap. Ask her to describe how this changes the look of what she's made.
5. Tape the plastic securely in several places on the back of the plate.

Once wrapped securely, show off this piece of wonderful ocean art by hanging it up!

For extra kicks, create more than one beach scene, and use them to decorate the house for an indoor "beach" party. With some tropical music, Hawaiian print shirts, beach towels and lemonade, any day can be a day at the beach.