Ocean Zones for Kids and Ocean Activities

If you want to explore and learn about the ocean from your home or classroom you’ve come to the right place. From the cool Ocean Zones for Kids to the Ocean Activities for Preschoolers these fun hands on activities can be part of an amazing ocean unit study. Or enjoy them by themselves for fun summer learning activities.

Ocean Activities for Preschoolers

Ocean Zones for Kids

When you finish this ocean activity, your children will have learned what type of animals live at different depths of the ocean, what the different ocean zones are called, and you’ll have beautiful ocean sensory jars to display on a science table.

The ocean is home to more than one hundred million different species.

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These Ocean Activities for Kids are perfect for visual learners and kinesthetic (Tactile) Learners.

Hands on Activities are the best! Don’t you agree? Let’s get started.

Gather your supplies

Small Glass or Plastic Bottles
Shades of Blue Cardstock or Construction Paper
Glue stick
Scissors
Water
Blue Food Coloring
Small Plastic Ocean Animal Toys

Learn the ocean layers & and which ocean animals live in each zone with this colorful science experiment and habitat project for kids.

Ocean Activities for Kindergarten

To start making your ocean zones bottles you’ll need to fill the bottles with water. If your children are ready for pouring activities this is a fun way to start (by allowing them to fill the bottles and add in the food coloring).

Add blue food coloring to each bottle.
You want the bottles to go from very light blue to dark blue.

Screw the caps on the bottles and they are ready to go.

Allow your children to observe the colors in the bottles and even give them a gentle shake.

For your ocean zones activity or to set this up as a Montessori Ocean tray, you’ll need to cut strips of blue cardstock or construction paper and glue them together from the lightest blue to the darkest blue.

Ocean Activities for Preschoolers in Science

Place your ocean sensory bottles on each zone.

The ocean is divided into 5 different layers, but for this activity and for working with younger children using the top 3 ocean zones is perfect.

Ocean Zones Facts

The top zone is the Sunlit Zone. This is the ocean zone that sunlight penetrates. In this zone, you get sunlight so photosynthesis can occur and plants grow.
The sunlit zone goes down to about 660 feet.
The next zone is the Twilight Zone. In this zone, you get very little sunlight.
The Twilight Zone goes down to approximately 3,300 feet.
The Twilight Zone temperature stays close to freezing at all times.
The last zone is the Midnight Zone. No sunlight will ever reach this zone.
It reaches depths up to 14,000 feet.

The lightest blue water represents The Sunlight Zone. In this zone, you can find ocean animals such as Humpback Whales, Sea Turtles, Hammerhead Sharks, Stingrays, and Dolphins.

The Twilight Zone has very little sunlight and plants do not grow here. It is also known to have some of the largest animals in the layer of the ocean.

The teal blue water represents The Twilight Zone. In this zone, you can find ocean animals such as Eels, Gray Whales, Angelsharks, and Octopus.

There is NO Sunlight in the Midnight zone which means the fish that live here live in total darkness and these deep sea creatures need to eat what they can because food is hard to find.

The dark blue water represents The Midnight Zone. In this zone, you can find ocean animals such as Black Swallower Eels, Anglerfish, Viperfish, Deep Sea Dragonfish, and Glass Squids.

Ocean Science for Preschoolers and Kindergarten

Place the ocean animals that live in each zone in the right area and have fun!

Learning About The Ocean

Teach your kids about the 3 oceans zones: sunlight, twilight, and midnight with these activities. Plus, get free printable zones of the ocean worksheets to reinforce everything they learn in an ocean theme!

Under the Sea Activities for Preschool

These ocean activities are a lot of fun during the summer so even if you aren’t looking for the perfect ocean unit study this can still be a great hands-on activity to set up for the kids. Your children will love it!