Littles Learning Link Up: Fishy Under the Sea Literature and Craft Round Up

Welcome to Littles Learning Link Up. Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child.

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

It's time for this month's Round Up

Recently I have been trying something different for my round up posts. I share a selection of books that focus on a specific topic (like Focusing on the Cross for Resurrection Sunday and Colors & Color Mixing Fun) and then I share a round up of "Favorite Book List" posts that other bloggers have compiled, plus craft/activity posts that went with those books. I have decided I am going to continue this through the year. I hope these posts have helped you find some new books to share with your children. I know they have helped me find books I have never heard of before, and reminded me of books we have read in the past but I had forgotten about.

This month I decided to focus on fish under the sea. We have been reading a variety of books and I am choosing our favorites to share here with you. We are also in the process of creating a diorama type aquarium project using the Rigid Wrap and CelluClay from Activa Products which we are reviewing. I had hoped to be finished, but we sort of took last week completely off, which was unplanned. I will be sharing the progress we have made so far and will share our final project at a later date, in the review if not earlier.

As I've done in the past, after I share my book selections and craft, I will share a list of posts that also focus on fish under the sea.  I hope you find some new books and ideas to share with your children.

Fish Under the Sea Literature and Craft Round Up

There are some wonderful fish under the sea books available. This round up will include books for toddlers/preschoolers, plus those more suited for elementary school children. Some are pure fictional stories, others are still fiction but have an element of fact in them, then there are some great non-fiction books.

Fictional Fishy Tales

We love the Rainbow Fish books by Marcus Pfister. 

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Rainbow Fish Discovers the Deep Sea by Marcus Pfister

Good Night, Little Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister

I was recently introduced to the books featuring the Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen. 

The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark by Deborah Diesen

The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School by Deborah Diesen

The Pout-Pout Fish Far, Far from Home by Deborah Diesen

And here are some more fishy fiction books.

The Fish Who Cried Wolf by Julia Donaldson. If I am not mistaken, this book is the same one titled Tiddler: The Storytelling Fish that is mentioned below.

The Story of Fish & Snail by Deborah Freedman.

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck

FISH by Liam Francis Walsh

Hooray for Fish by Lucy Cousins

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark by Ken Geist

Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert

 Then there are the books that are more factual in nature

In One Tidepool: Crabs, Snails and Salty Tails by Anthony D. Fredericks

Flood Fish by Robyn Eversole

My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki

Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd

Fishy Tales from DK Readers

Trout, Trout, Trout! (A Fish Chant) by April Pulley Sayre

A Couple of Alphabet Fish Books

A Swim through the Sea by Kristin Joy Pratt

The Underwater Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

A few books about Sea Horses:

Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea by Chris Butterworth

Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle

Seahorses by Jennifer Keats Curtis

Some Fishy Under the Sea Poems

Ocean Soup: Tide-Pool Poems by Stephen R. Swinburne

Project Time

We focused on the book: My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki to make our project.

As I mentioned, we are using the Rigid Wrap and Celluclay from Activa to make our diorama aquarium. There is a page in the book that focuses on Kelp Forests, so that is where our focus is. As I had to make the templates myself to make the fish, I used the simplest fish I discovered lived in kelp forests, the Garibaldi Fish and the Senorita Fish. We are reading information from this site which I found through a Google search of what lives in kelp forests. 

The Rigid  Wrap is plaster cloth which has to be moistened in water to use.

When they dried, the children painted them with acrylic paints. And we painted the inside of a cardbox box light blue.

Here is our project so far:

The children still need to add details to their fish and we are going to make something for the aquarium floor plus kelp hanging from the top. Stay tuned for the finished project. 

More Fishy Under the Sea Crafts and Activities that go with books:

Vicki from Babies to Bookworms shared Saving the Day with Nani the Brave Little Turtle.

Carol from My Bored Toddler shared Toddler Craft Activity: Octopus to go with the book Commotion in the Ocean.

Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy shared Clay Sea Turtle Art Activity for Kids to go with the book I'll Follow the Moon.

Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy shared Counting Activity for Kids Inspired by the Book Fish Eyes.

Deirdre from JDaniel4's Mom shared House for Hermit Crab Craft with Wiggly Eyes.

Sara from Embracing Destiny shared Why the Sea is Salty: Salt Dough and Sensory Bins {Poppins Book Nook}.

Kate from Crafts on Sea shared Tissue Paper Rainbow Fish Craft.

Shaunna from Fantastic Fun and Learning shared Rainbow Fish Counting Play Dough.

Catherine from Sun Hats & Wellie Boots shared "Hooray for Fish!" - Exploring the Story with Clay.

Catherine from Sun Hats & Wellie Boots shared "Only One You"  - Story Book and Pebble Fish Craft

Maggy from Red Ted Art shared Hooray for Fish - Footprint Fish for Kids.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Under the Sea Painting with Pout Pout Fish.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Ocean Animal Clay Art to go with the book Over in the Ocean In a Coral Reef.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Ocean Animals Shadow Matching to go with the book First Animal Encyclopedia.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Read a Story - Paint the Ocean to go with the book The Specific Ocean.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Printable Ocean Comparing and Matching Games to go with the book I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Ocean Animal Canvas for Mixed Age Groups to go with the book Ocean Animals Flippy Floppy Book.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Ocean Animal Sorting Activity with Free Printables to go with the book I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Dot Marker Art ~ Rainbow Fish.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Story Telling Wheel for The Snail and the Whale.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared No Mess Painting  - Bright and Colorful Canvas to go with the book Bright Stanley.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Tiddler Story Telling Prompts.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Under the Sea Discovery Bottle to go with the book The Very Silly Shark.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Spin Art Fish to go with the book Rainbow Fish.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Homemade Sea Turtle Stamps to go with the book Sea Turtle Journey: The Story of a Loggerhead Turtle.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Coral Reef Water Colour Art Project for Kids to go with the book One Small Square: Coral Reef.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Paper Plate Fish Collage to go with the book Tiddler.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Microwave Salt Dough Rainbow Fish.

Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared Rainbow Fish Sugar Cookies.

Jacquie from Edventures With Kids shared Ocean Zones, Sea Life & Deep Sea Creatures.

Jacquie from Edventures With Kids shared How Big is a Blue Whale? Outdoor Science Activity.

MaryAnne from Mama Smiles shared How to Make DIY Sea Shell Molds for Homemade Chocolate Sea Shells.

Viviana from Totschooling shared Goldfish Printables for Preschoolers to go with the book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Lists of Fishy/Under the Sea Books:

Tara from Homeschool Preschool shared 27 Amazing Ocean Animal Books for Preschoolers.

Chelsey from Buggy and Buddy shared 40 Children's Books about Ocean Animals.

Ellen from What Can We Do with Paper and Glue shared Books About the Ocean.

Renae from Every Star is Different shared Children's Books About Fish.

Jennifer from The Jenny Evolution shared Fish Books for Kids.

Gale from Imaginative Homeschool shared Books From My Childhood: Ocean Tales.

Janelle from Janelle Knutson shared Ocean Adventures with Jax {Book Review}.

What are your favorite Fishy Under the Sea books that you read to your children?

I am lining up guest posts for the new year. If you would be interested writing a guest post for Littles Learning Link Up one of these months, please leave a comment or contact me via my contact info on my About Me page. I will need to have your email address so I can contact you. I am looking for posts that have to do with young children: crafts, activities, foods/snacks, tips, or other ideas. I am open to suggestions.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were only 6 wonderful posts linked up. With last week being the 4th of July, I'm not surprised by that at all. There were also no clicks, so I will only be sharing the randomly selected post this week.  

Don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Sara from A Mama's Story shared The Benefits of Online Math for Children with Learning Challenges. 

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas or other relevant board, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time, if applicable. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Sunday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

An InLinkz Link-up

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