Add some ocean-themed math fun into your preschooler’s learning with this ocean graphing STEM activity! What is ocean graphing? Ocean graphing is recording how many times an ocean animal picture shows up each time you the roll the di on the bar graph included in this set. The purpose of this activity is to introduce young learners to the concepts of probability, recording answers, and counting. Once you have completed your graph, count how many times you rolled each animal.
Ocean Graphing STEM Activity:
Start by printing this free template. The ocean graphing template includes the di, colored tiles, and graphing chart. I used regular printer paper; however, if you use cardstock, then your di will be much sturdier.
Begin by cutting out the dice. Once fully cut out, gently fold the gray tabs inward. Then begin to fold your squares into a cube shape. Add some glue to the tabs and glue them onto the underside of the squares as you form your cube. The very last tab is hard to glue and might require tape. Once your cube is formed, set it aside to dry.
Cut out all of the colored tiles. You will have 4 of each color–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each color corresponds with one of the ocean animals. Here’s the color scheme: crab=red, clown fish=orange, clam=yellow, sea turtle=green, whale=blue, and octopus=purple.
Let’s Graph!
Now it is time to begin ocean graphing. Ask you child to gently roll the di. Which ocean animals picture is on top? Is it a red crab? Take a tile of the same color and set it on the graph above the corresponding-colored ocean animal picture. Keep rolling the di and setting tiles in the correct columns until you reach the top of the column.
The best part is you can use this activity over and over again since there is no glue involved. Try this ocean graphing STEM activity again and see which ocean animal makes it to the top this time!
Why STEM?
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. It is important to introduce these concepts to preschoolers in a fun way so that as they get older, they are excited about STEM subjects. What are preschoolers learning in this activity? Preschoolers are learning their colors (science)! They have to identify the color on the di, find the same color on the chart, and then correctly add the same color tile to the graph. Preschoolers are learning how to graph, an important math concept! Add some extra math into this activity by counting how many of each color tile is on your graph and how many tiles your have altogether. Preschoolers are also learning about engineering as they help build the di!
More STEM Activities
If your child enjoyed this graphing activity, I made a free blank di template so you can customize it with your own pictures. You can add computer images, stickers, or draw whatever you want on the dice and graph for your child to practice more graphing skills.
I’ve compiled all of my spring worksheets here for you to quickly access! Each worksheet is a free printable PDF. These spring worksheets are perfect for incorporating into your Easter, Vegetable Garden, Flowers, Bugs, and Rain & Rainbow themes! I have lots of other worksheets that are free if you are looking for more: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/worksheets/
ALPHABET
–Rainbow Tracing: trace the letters in the word Rainbow and then color the picture.
–Raindrop Alphabet: trace all 26 uppercase letters in the raindrops.
–Easter Bunny Words Tracing: trace all of the letters in the words Easter Bunny and then color the pictures.
–Easter Egg Letters: practice making all 26 uppercase letters with this fun letter tracing worksheet.
MATH
–Carrot Counting: count how many carrots are in each box and then circle the number.
–Butterfly I Spy: count how many of each butterfly you spy and write the number in the box.
–Easter I Spy: how many of each Easter picture can you spy?
Free, printable nature scavenger hunt to get kids exploring outside!
Need an easy, no-prep outdoor activity? Check out this printable Nature Scavenger Hunt!
Scavenger hunts are so much fun for kids! They get children moving and exploring while working on important observation skills too. Not only do children have to pay attention and concentrate, but they have to think about colors, visual discrimination between objects, and following directions by looking for things on the list.
Print this activity sheet, grab a crayon, and head outside! Put your child’s observation skills to work finding colors, animals, plants, and more things from the natural world. This is a fun way to learn more about the world around us. The best part is seeing the wonder and delight as your child excitedly finds things on the list!
Ask your child questions about the things they are finding. What does it feel like? What color is this? Why is this something you love? Share what discoveries you like with your child too!
Collect leaves while you are out exploring and make a leaf stick puppet! This simple, nature inspired craft allows your child’s creativity and imitation to shine as they play with their puppet.
Read some stories about leaves, birds, and bugs! Check you library for books to read with your child:
Whether you were wishing you had snow to play in, or are stuck inside because it is too cold out, make some fake snow that won’t freeze your fingers! All you need are two ingredients–baking soda and shaving cream–to make your own snow. The fake snow feels so soft and flakey. It is is tons of fun to squish in your fingers! Add some of your toys so they can have a snow day too. Fake snow is a fun way to add STEM into your preschooler’s activities. Check out my STEM Page for more ideas!
Fake Snow Preschool STEM Activity
Fake Snow Supplies Needed:
baking soda
shaving cream
measuring cup
tray or bowl to mix ingredients in (we used a 8×8 inch foil tray)
I love STEM activities that my son and I can do with supplies we already have at home! If you don’t have any shaving cream, another mom said you can use hair conditioner.
How To:
We tried this a couple times before we “perfected” our fake snow. In order to make enough to actually play with, we used 1 Cup baking soda and a little more than 1 Cup of shaving cream. Begin by measuring your baking soda and then dumping it into your tray/bowl. Then measure your shaving cream and dump it on top of your baking soda.
Now for the fun! Use your hands to combine the shaving cream and the baking soda until it forms snow. Add some extra shaving cream if needed to get the texture you like. Want to see this in action? check out our 4 1/2 minute video: How To Make Fake Snow
We had lots of fun just squishing our snow around the tray. My son added a plastic Olaf toy and let Olaf have fun playing in the snow too. Soon my son’s imagination went wild and he pretended that his hands were yetis after Olaf. Warning — snow got all over the table and some ended up on the floor as my son played. Fortunately it was easy to clean up with a wet paper towel.
Playing with our fake snow
More Snow and Winter Ideas!
Winter Fizz STEM Activity: combine blue glitter, baking soda, vinegar to create a wintry-looking fizzy science experiment!
Fingerprint Snowy Tree: draw a barren tree with a marker and then your preschooler can paint on the snow with their fingerprints.
Craft Stick Snowflake: add some sparkly winter fun to your seasonal decorations with this cute craft stick snowflake!
Snowman Books: Building a snowman is one of our favorite winter things to do as a family. However, even without snow, you can have some snowman fun with these 8 snowman books.
Add some spooky STEM fun into your preschooler’s learning with this Halloween graphing activity!
Halloween Graphing Activity:
Start by printing this free template. The Halloween graphing template includes the di, colored tiles, and graphing chart. I used regular printer paper; however, if you use cardstock, then your dice will be much sturdier.
Begin by cutting out the dice. Gently fold the gray tabs inward. Then begin to fold your squares into a cube shape. Add some glue to the tabs and glue them onto the underside of the squares as you form your cube. The very last tab is hard to glue and might require tape. Once your cube is formed, set it aside to dry.
Cut out all of the colored tiles. You will have 4 of each color–red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Each color corresponds with one of the Halloween pictures. Here’s the color scheme: witch=red, pumpkin=orange, moon=yellow, Frankenstein monster=green, bat=blue, and spiderweb=purple.
Now it is time to begin Halloween graphing. Ask you child to gently roll the di. Which Halloween picture is on top? Is it a purple web? Take a tile of the same color and set it on the graph above the corresponding-colored Halloween picture. Keep rolling the dice and setting tiles in the correct columns until you reach the top of the column. Since you are not gluing the colored tiles to the chart, you can use this activity over and over again. The witch was the first to reach the top for us. Which Halloween picture made it to the top of your graph first?
Why STEM?
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. It is important to introduce these concepts to preschoolers in a fun way so that as they get older, they are excited about STEM subjects. What are preschoolers learning in this activity? Preschoolers are learning their colors (science)! They have to identify the color on the di, find the same color on the chart, and then correctly add the same color tile to the graph. Preschoolers are learning how to graph, an important math concept! Add some extra math into this activity by counting how many of each color tile is on your graph and how many tiles your have altogether. Preschoolers are also learning about engineering as they help build the di!
More STEM Activities
If your child enjoyed this graphing activity, I made a free blank di template so you can customize it with your own pictures. You can add computer images, stickers, or draw whatever you want on the dice and graph for your child to practice more graphing skills.
This paper plate shape weaving activity is great for preschooler’s fine motor skills and shape recognition. Kids get to paint and wrap yarn! As they wrap the yarn, talk about how many sides the shape has and how many points it has. Ask you child what their favorite shape is!
Supplies needed:
paper plate
watercolor paints
paint brush
cup of water
scissors
yarn
tape
How To:
Pick a shape you would like to make. There are so many possibilities — square, triangle, heart, circle, a star, and more! My son made a star as part of our Learning Letter S Week.
Start by drawing a shape in the center of the plate and cutting it out.
Kids can paint the plate with a variety of watercolors; be creative! My preschooler loved using paints and had a lot of fun with this activity. Let your plate dry before wrapping it with yarn.
Pick out yarn or string to wrap around your plate. I had some of this rose colored yarn left over from a crochet project, so we used it for this craft. I suggest cutting a 36-inch piece of yarn. You can always cut off any excess yarn when your child is done weaving.
Tape one end of the yarn to the back of the plate and then let your child start wrapping. When you are finished wrapping yarn, cut the yarn (if you have extra) and tape the end to the back of the plate.
You can repeat this paper plate shape weaving activity with other shapes and make a whole bunch. Be sure to make your favorite shape!
My son is really interested in robots and we have been searching our library for robot books. We found some awesome ones and some that really didn’t keep my son’s interest. We’ve rounded up the best ones (in our opinions) to share with you!
My son LOVES this book! He actually clapped after I read it to him! A mysterious UFO lands in Dog’s backyard. A robot space dog appears and Dog is excited to someone who looks like a dog. However, it is the household appliances that the visitor is here for, and they come to life and start to fly around! When play time is over, the appliances return home. Poor Dog feels left out of the fun! Robot space dog gives Dog a special nose and now it is Dog’s turn for adventure! This poetic, rhyming book is absolutely amazing. The story and the pictures will capture your child’s imagination.
Doug and his robot family are traveling through the countryside to visit Doug’s grandbots. The family plugs into the car to receive knowledge about farms. Doug gets lots of interesting farm facts. However, when the car gets stuck and Doug gets to explore an actual farm he finds that hands-on experiences are way cool! Doug combines his new knowledge with the farm facts that he learned to help free the family car.
The adventures of Otto the robot are sure to delight the preschool crowd. Otto is a space robot visiting Earth. Otto misses his family so he builds a robot to take him. Read this funny story to find out if he make the spaceship fly. Otto has several more books, each one sparsely worded with humorous pictures!
In this awesomely illustrated story, we learn how robots are such a huge part of our lives! Robots are in our house, in factories, in the ocean, and even in space — robots are everywhere! Preschoolers will enjoy the rhyming text and might even start thinking of places where they’ve seen robots too.
This book combines preschoolers’ love of Pete the Cat with their love of robots for a story they are sure to enjoy! When Pete’s friends do not want to play the same things he does, Pete builds a robot to play with him. The fun doesn’t last long when Robo-Pete gets out of control! Pete learns that you can’t replace good friends. So even if his friends don’t always want to play the same thing, playing with good friends is fun anyway.
Loosely based on The Three Little Pigs story, this book is a giggle-inducing space and robot adventure. The little aliens set out to build themselves homes, only to have the big, bad robot knock down the first two homes. Will the aliens be safe in a house made of bricks with solar panels and a telescope? Great tool for learning about the planets and interstellar travel! This book is little on the long side and may not be ideal for wiggly kiddos; parents can skip parts to make it shorter if needed.
A young robot discovers a message in a bottle that is signed “Love, Beatrice.” The robot asks the older robots what love is. “Does not compute” they reply as they read the young robot its favorite bedtime story, tuck it in, turn on a nightlight, and give a goodnight kiss. The young robot sets on an adventure to find Beatrice and learn the meaning of love. Along its travels it finds other animals and people who try their best to explain what love means to them, but none of these explanations compute. Finally, the robot meets Beatrice. Beatrice says that love makes her feel safe and cozy and cared for. The young robot realizes that he knows that feeling! Now he has a name for it — love.
This is a non-fiction story about the Curiosity Rover on Mars. It is written in story format with lots of facts sprinkled in at an easy to understand level. We discovered this book when my son was 4-years old and he fell in love with this book! It has 2 of his favorite things: space and robots! Originally we checked it out from our library, but we ended up buying this one. The pictures are fantastic and my son learned so much about Mars and the Rovers! This lead us to explore Nasa Kids Club, which has tons of kid-friendly space information, games, STEM activities, and things to make at home.
You are going to love this sweet story about a boy and robot. After the two meet and spend a day playing, Bot powers down. The boy thinks Bot is sick and tries all of the usual home remedies to help his friend feel better. Unfortunately nothing works. The boy eventually falls asleep next to Bot. When Bot powers back on, it thinks the boy is sick! Bot tries all of the usual robot remedies, but none of them help the boy. The wakes up and both are well and ready to resume playing!
Check your library for these and other robot books. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading:)
Make a rainbow out of Froot Loops for an edible cereal rainbow activity! With marshmallow clouds, who could resist this yummy activity. My coworker made one and showed it me and I had to try it with my son! We enjoyed making this together and redid our rainbow several times trying different color patterns. In addition to being fun and yummy, there are several educational applications to this activity– work on fine motor skills, color recognition, rainbow order or make up your own patterns!
Supplies Needed:
Froot Loops
2 large marshmallows
1 pipe cleaner (we used white)
scissors
How To:
First, cut your pipe cleaner in half. We used a white pipe cleaner. Pick whichever color you like, but keep in mind that you will see the pipe cleaner in-between the cereal pieces.
Then stick one end of the pipe cleaner into a marshmallow. Now it’s Froot Loops time! We dumped some Froot Loops onto a paper plate for my son to use for this activity. He did a fantastic job getting his rainbow colors in the correct order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Carefully string each cereal piece down the pipe cleaner.
Leave a little bit of the pipe cleaner empty at the end so that you can stick into the second marshmallow. Carefully bend your pipe cleaner into a rainbow shape. Now your Froot Loops rainbow should stand freely on top of the marshmallows.
My son and I each made an edible cereal rainbow activity and I love how they turned out. We enjoyed munching on the Froot Loops and the marshmallows as we went along too! If you enjoyed this activity, check out our Froot Loops Tower and have more yummy fun.
One of the first things parents usually teach their preschoolers are colors. Colors are all around us and so pretty too! Here are 15 preschooler approved colors books to read with your little one. These are not only great stories, but also a fun way to work on color identification!
This is such a cool book — not only does it devote a page to each color, it has a matching color ribbon that stretches across each page. As you turn the page, you accumulate more colored ribbons until you end up with a rainbow! It is truly amazing to see the rainbow at the end of the book. I read this one everyone year to my library preschool storytime group, so I knew my son would love it too. I ended up buying this book because it a great story, fantastic color teaching tool, and the ribbon rainbow is an awesome concept.
This book is a preschool classic for good reasons— it is a lot of fun to read and Eric Carle’s illustrations are great! Learn colors with brown bear as it spies many beautifully colored animals. It’s fun to guess what animal corresponds to the color the bear sees.
We love Lois Ehlert’s books! They always have great pictures. In this book and child helps mom plant a flower garden in a rainbow of colors. The book shows a great step-by-step guide to the planting process for children. Once the flowers bloom, each color is highlighted in its own spread and the names of the flowers are given.
A chameleon is sad that he doesn’t have a color of his own. The thing about chameleons is that they change to the color of what ever they touch. So if they are on a green leaf, they turn green and if they are in a yellow flower, they turn yellow. as the chameleon walks along and the seasons change, so does the chameleon. It is feeling very sad about it’s color changing until it meets another chameleon. The new friend promises that they will stick together and even though they will still change colors, at least they will look the same.
This book helps reinforce color recognition by talking about one color per spread. Told in simple, rhyming text, this is a story about a girl who spots the colors of the rainbow everywhere around her. She goes in rainbow color order, pointing out food, clothing, animals, flowers, toys, clouds, and household items. A glossary at the end of the book explains some of the things that preschoolers might not be familiar with to help further discussion with your kiddo. We had to look up one of the fruits that I didn’t know, so I was learning new stuff too!
Wow. The illustrations are beautiful in this book about a baby and mommy bear. Baby bear wakes in the spring to a beautiful world filled with bright colors. Each spread focuses on a different color as the bear makes its way out of the cave and explores the forest. A rain storm causes the bears to go back to their cave, but when they look out after the storm has passed they see a rainbow!
This is the first Pete the Cat book in the series. It is a sing-song, rhyming, cute story about a cool cat who steps in lots of stuff as he is walking down the road. He steps in blueberries, strawberries, mud, and finally a bucket of water. Kids will love singing along with Pete about how much he loves his shoes no matter what color or how wet they are!
Three white mice find three jars of paint. One jar is red, one is yellow, and one is blue. The jars are perfect size for the mice to squeeze into and get covered in paint. Paint splashed out of the jars. When the mice step into the paint puddles, the paint changes colors. This book is a great introduction to mixing colors.
This is one of my favorite colors books! It does a great job of showing the colors in an easy to recognize way and features one of my favorite storybook characters, Bear. Bear and friends explore the beauty of the forest around them, noting a new color on each spread. This book showcases the beauty of the natural world while teaching color recognition. Take a color walk of your own after reading this and see what colors you have outside!
In this fun book, Dog, a white dog with one black spot, goes about its day, getting lots of colored spots on its coat. Not only does the reader get to work on color recognition, but also counting as more and more spots appear on Dog! Emma Dodd’s illustrations are cheerful and appealing. Preschoolers will enjoy Dog’s colorful day!
A boy named Duncan opens his crayon box one day to find a note from his crayons saying they quit. Each crayon has a complaint–blue has to color too much sky and water, Pink feels neglected, orange and yellow are fighting over which one is the true color of the sun, gray gets tired from coloring the largest animals, and black wants to do more than outline! You and your kiddo will giggle your way through this book 🙂 After listening the the crayons’ complaints, Duncan uses his imagination to draw a fantastic picture that makes everyone happy!
12. I Love Colors! by Hans Wilhelm —
This story is short, but great. It teaches about mixing the primary colors to make new colors! The cute white dog, named Noodles, in this story uses its tail as a paintbrush. A big mess ensues and soon Noodles is covered in paint and looks like a rainbow. Preschoolers will be just as delighted as Noodle is to discover that we can mix colors and will want to try and mix colors too!
Wow, this is a super fun and interactive book! The reader is asked to touch the colors and help mix them up on the page by shaking and titling the book. A fantastic way to learn about how to turn the 3 primary colors into new colors, as well how to make colors lighter and darker by mixing in black and white paint.
This a great friendship story for preschoolers, and a fun way to learn about colors as well. Friends, Little Blue and Little Yellow, hugged each other so much that they turned green. Their families didn’t recognize them! The 2 friends began to cry. One cried blue tears and the other cried yellow tears until they were back to their original colors. The families hugged Little Blue and Little Yellow until everyone turned green!
We love Little Owl stories! The stories are always cute and the we really like the bright, bold pictures. In this book, Little Owl explores the world around it, find all sorts of beautiful colors. Each color is just the right hue to be easily identified. The colors are given several examples. At the end of the story is a beautiful rainbow and Little Owl asks what colors you can name.
We hope you enjoy these colors books as much as we do! Please check your library for these and other great books. I’ve included links to purchase these titles on Amazon. To help cover the costs of this site, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. If you buy a book through one of my links, then I get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy Reading 🙂
Incorporate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) into your preschooler’s learning activities with this fun (and yummy) Froot Loops tower! My son really enjoyed this activity, so much so, that we’ve done it a few times. Not only is this fun to do, but it is great for for kids’ fine motor skill development too! While you are your child are making this tower, take the opportunity to talk about colors and making patterns with the Froot Loops. Patterns and sequencing are important math components for preschoolers to learn. By making Froot Loop Towers, they can experiment with patterns by putting the cereal on the spaghetti noodle in different sequences.
Supplies Needed:
Froot Loops cereal
spaghetti noodle
Play-Doh
How To:
Start by making a mound out of your Play-Doh to use as the tower’s base. Then stick the spaghetti noodle into the mound. Make sure that you smush the Play-Doh around the noodle so that they noodle stands up straight.
It’s Froot Loops time! We dumped some Froot Loops onto a paper plate for my son to use for this project. He decided to make a rainbow tower. He did a fantastic job getting his rainbow colors in the correct order! Pick colors and a pattern you like. Now that you have a pattern in mind, take your Froot Loops can carefully drop each piece down the noodle, building a tower as you stack cereal pieces.
This looks like an easy activity, but little kids are still working on their fine motor skills, so getting the Froot Loops onto the noodle and building the tower is really work for them. And then add in making patterns, and they are really working hard. Fortunately they are having fun creating their tower and munching on the cereal as they go along!
