Category Archives: Early learning

Ocean Animal Activities for Early Years: Sharks, Whales & Turtles

Ocean animal activities for Early Years are a powerful way to engage young children in hands-on learning. Young learners are naturally captivated by ocean life. From the impressive humpback whale to sea turtles and powerful sharks, marine animals spark curiosity and create valuable opportunities for learning across science, language, movement and social-emotional development.

For Early Years educators across South East Queensland, these ocean theme early childhood activities provide a meaningful way to connect children with their local marine environment while aligning with the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). Through hands-on exploration, storytelling and sensory play ocean activities, children develop an understanding of the natural world while strengthening communication, social and thinking skills.

Below are simple, engaging marine animal activities that can be easily incorporated into your Early Years program.

👉Check out our marine education incursions for Early Years

Sharks & EcosystemsShark Activities for Early Years

Sharks are often one of the first ocean animals children recognise. Their unique features and behaviours make them ideal for early learning ocean activities.

 

Shark Sensory Play Activity

Set up an ocean-inspired sensory tray using water, sand, toy sharks, shells, blue stones or glass pebbles, and green ribbons to represent seaweed.

Encourage children to explore and describe their discoveries using words such as fast, sharp, smooth, swim, ocean.

This sensory play ocean activity supports language development, imaginative play and early science skills.

Shark Movement Activity

Invite children to move like different ocean animals:

  • A fast-moving shark
  • A slow turtle
  • A large whale
  • A tiny fish

This activity promotes gross motor development while reinforcing descriptive vocabulary.

Shark Storytelling Activity

Read a shark-themed book such as Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale and ask children:

  • Where does the shark live?
  • What does it eat?
  • How does it move?

 

Children can then create their own stories through drawings and discussion, supporting early literacy and ocean learning activities.

👉Check out our marine education incursions for Early Years

Whale Activities for Early Years

Humpback whales migrate along the Queensland coastline each year, making them an ideal focus for marine education in South East Queensland.

Whale Migration Activity

Create a migration pathway indoors or outdoors where children can:

Move like whales/ Jump over pretend waves/ Swim around obstacles/ Follow a migration route

This introduces migration concepts and supports EYLF science activities.

Whale Sounds Activity

Play whale sound recordings and encourage children to:

  • Listen carefully
  • Describe what they hear
  • Create their own whale-inspired sounds using instruments

This builds listening skills, creativity and curiosity about marine life.

Humpback whales for school scienceWhale Size Comparison Activity

Help children understand whale size by measuring their length outdoors using markers or cones.

Ask questions such as: How many children long is a whale? Is a whale bigger than a car? Could a whale fit inside our classroom?

This supports numeracy skills and hands-on learning with ocean animals.

Turtle Activities for Early Years

Sea turtles are a favourite in ocean animals for preschool learning and are ideal for exploring life cycles.

Turtle Life Cycle Activity

Turtle Life Cycle

Use pictures or objects to show the stages of a turtle’s life:

Egg – Hatchling – Young turtle – Adult turtle

This helps children understand life cycles in a simple and engaging way.

Turtle Hatchling Game

Create an outdoor play experience where children act as turtle hatchlings making their way to the ocean.

Add obstacles such as rocks, driftwood and sand dunes to explore real-world challenges turtles face.

Turtle Nest Sensory Activity

Fill a tray with sand and hide small “eggs” made from balls or stones.

Children can gently dig and discover the eggs while learning about nesting behaviours.

This supports preschool ocean theme ideas and sensory exploration.

👉Check out our marine education incursions for Early Years

Building Language Through Ocean Activities

Ocean-themed learning provides excellent opportunities to develop vocabulary.

Introduce descriptive words such as fast, slow, large, small, smooth, gentle, deep and shallow.

Encourage simple comparisons:

  • Sharks are fast
  • Whales are large
  • Turtles are slow

These sentence structures support early childhood marine learning and communication skills.

Teaching Ocean Conservation

Even young children can begin to understand how to care for the environment through ocean education programs in QLD.

Discuss questions such as:

  • How can we keep beaches clean?
  • What happens if animals eat rubbish?
  • How can we protect marine life?

These conversations help develop empathy, responsibility and environmental awareness.

Why Ocean-Based Learning Works

Ocean animal activities for Early Years naturally inspire curiosity, exploration and wonder. They support development across multiple learning areas while building a strong connection to local marine environments.

For educators across Brisbane and South East Queensland, these experiences also create meaningful links to local wildlife and coastal ecosystems.

👉Check out our marine education incursions for Early Years

 

Ocean Life Education

Bring Marine Education to Life

Ocean Life Education provides engaging marine education incursions for Early Years services across South East Queensland.

Our programs give children the opportunity to:

  • Meet live marine animals
  • Explore ocean habitats
  • Discover incredible local marine life

Through interactive, hands-on learning, we deliver early learning incursions in Queensland that bring science, sustainability and ocean awareness to life.

Book your Ocean Life Education incursion today and inspire an apprecaition of the ocean in your Early Years setting.

Book a Primary Ocean Science Incursion for Your School

Thank you for reading:Ocean Animal Activities for Early Years: Sharks, Whales & Turtles

Author: Hayley Gee, Marine Educator, Ocean Life Education

Bringing Nature into the Classroom

 

“Bringing nature into the classroom can kindle a fascination and passion for the diversity of life on earth and motivate a sense of responsibility to safeguard it”,

Sir David Attenborough.

 

Ocean Life Education’s Director of Education, Richard Coward, is a firm believer that education is the key to protecting the ocean. So, Richard has spent the past 14 years visiting schools, early learning centres and community events, passionately educating and inspiring young minds to feel a responsibility to protect the our seas.

“Our goal is to educate Australians about how our lives are interconnected with our oceans and to inspire them to feel a responsibility to take action to protect them”, Richard Coward, Director of Education, Ocean Life Education.

 

A Passion for Protecting the Ocean

Ocean Life Education was set up in 2006 by Director of Education and Marine Biologist, Richard Coward. Richard studied Marine Ecology at Queensland’s Griffith University and commenced his career running Sunshine Coast’s Underwater World education programs and was later promoted to Curator of Fishes.

Richard went on to work on the creation of a new aquarium in South Korea. Whilst diving in the ocean, he was astonished by the complete lack of marine life. This was the first time he had experienced first-hand the devastating consequences of human impact caused by over-fishing. This education inspired him to take action. Richard saw this as a wakeup call and was determined this was not going to be allowed to happen in Australia. Thus, his passion for protecting the ocean was born.

Richard’s career went off down many paths: managing exhibits in aquariums worldwide and working with sharks, seals, penguins, turtles, sea jellies, fish, octopus, and invertebrates, to name a few.  He has been involved in research projects and breeding programs as well as whale rescue and his knowledge has frequently been reported on television, including a whole feature on the Totally Wild television show. Throughout all this, promoting conservation has always been at the heart of what he does.

 

Taking the Ocean into the Classroom

Richard soon realised that educating future generations was the key to them understanding why the ocean is so important to us and inspiring them to take action to protect it. “You protect what you love”, he quotes.

But many children were unable to get to the ocean or even to an aquarium to experience ocean life first-hand, so the idea of taking the ocean to the classroom was hatched and Ocean Life Education was born.

 

Our Programs & Marine Educators

Since 2006, Ocean Life Education has promoted the protection of our oceans to hundreds and thousands of Australians throughout Queensland and New South Wales. Our aim is to bring the sea to the community or classroom.  Marine educators arrive with live marine animals, fascinating artefacts, games and resources and students get a hands-on experience interacting with the animals. They hopefully finish off knowledgeable and inspired to want to protect the ocean and passionate to tell their friends and families why they should do the same.

                       

Our Programs

Early Learning – Ocean Discovery Program https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/early-learning/

Primary – Curriculum based and tailored themes and activities https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/primary-schools/

Holiday Programs (OSHC) – Human Impact, Sharks, Weird & Wonderful https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/holiday-program/

High School – Curriculum based and tailored themes and activities https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/high-school/

Events – live marine displays, beach walks, lectures, workshops (tailored to requirement) https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs/events/

 

Further reading

For more information about what we can all do to protect the ocean, check out our blog:

https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/how-can-i-protect-the-ocean/

 

Hope to see you soon!

 

Have Tank will Travel

Usually our sea animals bask in the 5 star luxury of their home tanks on the Sunshine Coast, where everything is carefully monitored to create an optimum environment, but when they hit the road to educate our next generation of ocean lovers, things get a little more tricky.

Our touch tanks are a home away from home for our animal ambassadors and we work hard to ensure things are as stress free as possible while they play a vital role in helping children understand and appreciate the aquatic world.

They travel all over Brisbane and the rest of South East Queensland, visiting early learning centres, schools and shopping centres, giving youngsters the opportunity to get up close and personal with these exotic creatures.

Under careful supervision, children are able to gently interact with our sea stars, sea cucumbers and spiny urchins, using our one finger touch policy that ensures our animals remain relatively undisturbed while cocooned in their cases.

To protect both animal and young enthusiast, our baby sharks are carefully contained in see through containers which allow for thorough inspection without causing damage.

Likewise, the colourful tropical sea cucumbers have such delicate feeding tentacles, they need to be kept clear of probing fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9VrClr6maY

But the fresh water turtles are only too willing to subject themselves to some soothing shell massage, all in the name of fostering a greater human/animal relationship.

We limit the amount of time our animal ambassadors spend away from their homes, rotating our starfish, cucumbers, urchins, sharks and turtles to make sure they are well rested and fed before embarking on their next mission to help save the oceans.

 

Sea Stars Turn TV Stars

21430316_269006576950783_5357399401719601007_nWe always knew they had that certain something, that undefinable “star quality” that has everyone asking for more… and now it seems Nine News Sunshine Coast agrees with us.

Our sea stars and other marine animals were featured in a recent television news story celebrating their contribution to Seaweek 2017.  A camera crew followed us to Kindamindi Childcare Centre on the Sunshine Coast to see first-hand the work of our “star” ambassadors.

Its long been accepted that as humans we care more about things we experience ourselves and touch is an important sense in making that connection.  Once we have a greater understanding of the fragile marine ecosystem, and the impact it has on our lives, then we are invested in wanting to protect it, and ensure its survival for generations to come.

As with most things, starting young is the key to success, so with every pre-schooler who learns to love our sea creatures, the better the chance the ocean will receive the attention it deserves.

To view the Nine News Sunshine Coast story click this link…

https://www.facebook.com/9NewsSunshineCoast/videos/1962206393992624/