I’m not a huge fan of screen time for children. I prefer my children to be outdoors, exploring nature, experiencing the real thing.
Television or screen time, however, isn’t all bad.
One afternoon, Miss Possum and I snuggled down and watched the movie Finding Nemo. It was a brilliant introduction to ocean creatures.
Animals with human-like characteristics can build a strong, almost instant connection with a child. When Poss started quoting some of the dialogue, after one viewing, I knew she was hooked.
Together, we decided that we would make our play-room into an ocean and so started a month-long process of planning, creating, and pretending.
Planning an underwater Playroom
We gathered books about the ocean from the library and used them to plan the ocean environment. After all, fish need somewhere to swim!
Miss Possum then chose the animals we would have in our underwater room. A mermaid came up a few times but I promptly reminded her that SHE was the mermaid.
Building the Underwater Playroom
Firstly, every blue sheet in the house was spread out on the playroom floor.
Then, Miss Possum chose the animals; fish being the obvious first choice.
One of my favourite readers requested I create a fish template (ahem, Grace). Not one to disappoint, you can download the template we used here.
Miss Possum chose to use only one fish on the template I made (figures, but she was in control).
We painted newspaper and then used the template to cut out the fish.
We also made a jelly fish, an octopus, crabs, a turtle, a sea anemone (yep, they are animals) and a shark.
While making our creatures, we talked about the parts of their bodies, what they ate and where they live in the ocean.
Playing in the underwater Playroom
Don’t underestimate pretend play. Pretend play is a fun way to learn and have kids absorb new information effortlessly
I was told I was a whale (not impressed!) and Miss Possum was a mermaid of course! We dipped and dived in the water. We swam away from sharks and watched the sea turtles swimming in the current, just like in the movie.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that indoor activities can inspire wildlife education too. Who knew a movie would inspire such educational fun!
Extended learning:
How has a movie or television inspired you and/or your children?
That’s gorgeous, thanks for the inspiration! Her mermaid skirt is divine. When I was pregnant someone mentioned that mothers need a thick skin. I assumed from other mothers, not the fruit of my loins! My cherub asked me why I have a groove in my forehead aka wrinkle…
I know! It has inspired me to eat better I can tell you! Kids are too honest at times. he he he.
Mesmerising! My biggest thought is how lucky Miss Possum is to have a mummy that is so involved in teaching and co-creating with her. All the valuable learning and beautiful memories…You inspire me Pen.
kirri recently posted..Sinking into sameness
I’m not this wonderful all the time. It just happened.
Oh what fun! Love the idea of extending on a movie in that way. My girls would love this. We prefer play and outside time too over screen time but unfortunately sometimes I just need them to be content, distracted or quiet for a while. We limit it as much as we can and for me I think it is all about keeping it balanced (or on the lower side!) with everything else that we do. Great post!
abbie recently posted..outdoor play party – play while you travel
Thanks so much Abbie. I’m so glad I discovered you and your blog. Thanks so much for dropping by.
I love that the new playspace was child-directed, but looks great too! What a lucky little mermaid!
Susan Stephenson recently posted..Ideas for Children’s Christmas Gifts
Thanks so much Susan. Yep, that little mermaid is very lucky, so is her Mummy!
I love this!!! We have an ocean in the twinlets’ room but it’s not as cool as this!!! Can’t wait to try the templates with them. When I was a kindy teacher in Japan, I would take my little students for a walk and say we were going to Austalia to look for some koalas and kangaroos. They loved it. Fun memories…
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Hold on. You were a kindy teacher? Um, how did I not know this? Was this part of your previous life? Crazy woman! What else don’t I know about?
How lovely the room looks, what an inspiration. And there’s great value, isn’t there, in doing a longer project with kids, thinking and planning. Love the blue ‘sea bed.’
seana smith recently posted..Family Fun at Jervis Bay – Nowra Olympic Pool
Thanks Seana. We really did have a great time and yes, I think longer activities work better for me and for Miss Poss. More to come!
I really love this. What a fabulous job!
I think Ella would be most taken with it. Thanks for the inspiration! x
Thanks Kel. I’m glad I’m inspiring a few of you out there. It keeps me going.
This is really amazing, Penny. I love how you drew inspiration from the movie. The closest we’ve gotten is to copy some art from shows like Mr Maker or Playschool. That’s not in the same league though.
Veronica @ Mixed Gems recently posted..Will I miss not having my boy?
I’m stopping by again because you are a favorite of the blogger behind Greening Sam and Avery. I have loved everything I’ve seen so far and I’m your newest follower. We also try to greatly limit screen time, but I love to watch appropriate movies and shows as a treat every once in awhile to go along with a book that we are reading or a particular theme. I absolutely love how the playroom turned out! My son would love that. We’ve done seasonal themes in our playroom, but I think we’ll have to start transforming it for certain special themes as well. Oh! And I love the painted newspaper fish! Great idea and way of doing it. Thank you for sharing!
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Thanks so much for following Joyce! You’ve made my day with your heart-warming comment. I’m smiling from ear to ear!
This was quite a bit of effort but we had so much fun. I try to recycle as much as I can too.
What a Gorgeous idea. Im sure she had lots of Fun
wow i love this,my daughter is a mermaid fanatic ,she would love something like this in her room.
Thanks Renee, we did have a great time with this activity. We’ll need to create another habitat in our playrom again soon. Miss Possum is really interested in the desert at the moment. I wonder if any mythical creatures live in the desert too? Thank you so much for visiting and commenting!