This summer we took an amazing vacation to the ocean to enjoy the sand and the crashing waves. Several weeks before we left for our trip, Little Bee and I created this fun sensory play ocean art for kids activity.
Materials Needed:
- Thick Paper Plates
- Glue
- Thick Green Card Stock Paper
- Tin Foil
- Markers
- Sand (Tiny Rocks -optional)
- Smaller Seashells
- Paint & Paintbrush - optional if you want to paint the seashells
- Scissors
Seashell Painting and Fine Motor Development
The first art activity that Little Bee enjoyed was painting seashells. I squirted finger paints (red, yellow, green, blue) onto a paint tray for Little Bee to dab his paintbrush in. Looking at the photo below, you can see that Little Bee took this activity very seriously. With great depth of thought and concentration he eagerly painted each seashell.
Foil Fish Art and Pre-writing Practice
I cut out several little fish shapes from thick card stock paper and covered them in tin foil. If you have an older preschool aged child, they can cut the fish out (with supervision) and help with covering the fish shapes in tin foil.
After all the fish were covered in tin foil, I set up an art tray for Little Bee to color the fish. At first I set up a tray using colored pencils, but the pencils didn't leave enough color on the fish for Little Bees liking. I replaced the colored pencils with markers and this made Little Bee much happier. He was able to leave a brighter and more distinct mark on the fish with the markers.
The point of this activity was two-fold. It was a fun art project for Little Bee and it also helped him develop fine motor control while holding a pencil and a marker. This is a wonderful way to give your child pre-writing practice. 
Sensory Play Ocean Art for Kids
I prepared the ocean sensory tray for Little Bee to explore by filling it with tin foil fish, painted seashells, strips of cut seaweed (from green paper), sand, and small rocks. I showed Little Bee how to squirt glue onto his plate and then transfer the sand with a spoon onto the glued area on his plate. While I created my own ocean art masterpiece, Little Bee simultaneously created his own.
The top plate art design is Little Bee's creation and the lower plate is mine. He did most all the work himself with a tad bit of help from me. 
You may also enjoy visiting other sensory play activities on Mama's Happy Hive blog ~
Follow Mama's Happy Hive's board Sensory Learn & Play on Pinterest.
I love your creativity and B’s focused face! It is so rewarding to know that our children are engrossed on the beautiful work that they are doing! Awesome ideas and inspiration! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for this lovely comment.
This is so cute! I love kid art!
I just love this! What a fabulous idea to combine an invitation to play with an art activity! I’m going to have to remember this. It helps keep the play so structured!
I loved the tin foil fish! What a cool way to color different sized object! The activity in wrapping the tin foil makes for a great tactile learning experience as well! This looks so fun I want to try!
Yes, you should join in on the fun!
Wonderful idea (ideas). Something we will definitely do once our preschool is open! Thank you Vanessa!
Thank you for visiting and for the kind comment!
What a fun activity for the summer! I can’t believe how much B is growing!
He is growing like a weed!
I looove the foil fish!! We have to try that. We used similar concept with planets and sharpies and turned out great!
Oh how I love the ocean… we are hoping to make it there next year on vacation. These would be fun to do ahead of time or even while we are there.
I miss the beach already! I want to go back and enjoy the sea breeze.
My oldest child has autism and is very sensory. This would be a great activity for him. Thanks for sharing your link at Thoughtful Thursday link party.
I’m so glad this will be a fun activity for your child. Thank you for the comment love! We LOVE sensory play in our home.
Such cute ideas! I love the seashell painting. Even post-beach it would be a fun idea to decorate some mementos and stick them in a shadow box with other treasures and memories from the vacation.
Great idea, Katie!
Great ideas! Pinned and tweeted. Thanks for stopping by and partying with us! I hope to see you on Monday at 7 pm, so we can pin and tweet your masterpieces! Lou Lou Girls