The Bodies of Water Award is a nature award. It’s an opportunity for Little Lambs to learn more about the amazing world our creator has created for us. The subject is so vast that I find this award a bit overwhelming to plan. I encourage you to embrace the many options for this award and try not to overthink it. You could learn about oceans, or lakes, ponds, cold water or even hot bodies of water! You might choose to focus your meeting all on one smaller subject – such as lakes in your part of the world, or you might choose to focus on multiple bodies of water. It’s up to you!
Story: On the Seashore
On the Seashore by Anna Milbourne and Erica-Jane Waters is an Usborne book (and may be more challenging to track down). I love the simple but sciency text and pictures. It’s a beautiful ratio of text to pictures for the preschool crowd. There are other similar books in the series that would also fit our our wide topic of bodies of water.
Craft: Do-A-Dot Sea Animals
My kids love Do-A-Dot markers! Do yours? If you already have do-a-dot markers, you’ll enjoy this simple craft option. Easy Peasy Learners has Free Sea Animals Do a Dot Printables for you. Kids love splotching dots on to the paper. And while they are having fun with their art, they are also strengthening their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Play: Animal Activity Cards
Time to get up and pretend to be ocean animals! Kristina at Toddler Approved has a free printable Ocean Animals Movement game. I set up our laminated pages around the room before our meeting so everything was ready for play after the kids finished their craft. Kristina has a variety of ideas to inspire you as you plan how you want to use the activity cards.
Activity: Pond and Ocean Play Dough
It’s been too long since I had a play dough activity in Little Lambs. One of the lambs saw the Helping Hands making habitats at a previous meeting and asked for play dough in Little Lambs. And I was happy to make that happen. This is a great award for a little play dough play. I made several batches of play dough in a few water and land colors. Carissa at 1+1+1=1 shares my favorite play dough recipe, but you could also buy play dough of course.
I love the Toob animals for playdough play and for creating habitats/scenes. I included animals from the Antarctica and Great Lakes tubes. Why did I choose these two Toobs? Because they fit the theme and I have them. No need to overthink this! There are other Toob sets that would also work well. Here’s a few links for you: Ocean Toob, Coral Reef Toob, Whales & Dolphins Toob, and Arctic Toob.
Extra Time: Community Service Cards
For our extra activity, we had community service cards ready and waiting, but I think the call for playdough was so strong, we didn’t need extra activities!
There isn’t a workbook page for this award. If you are looking for another craft/activity, check Pinterest. I have a few more ideas pinned.
Closing Circle Time
Story: Over and Under the Pond
Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner is a gorgeous book. I love that she describes both the animals that live in the water and the ones that live near the water. There is a nice text to picture ratio. There is back matter at the end for you in case you want to learn a bit more about a particular animal.
As much as I adore this book (and I do!), I think it’s a bit long for Little Lambs. (It’s perfect for Eager Beavers and older.) If your class is particularly chill or you’re reading to just one kid, it’ll be a great book. But, I noticed that the collective attention span drops as you add more kids. This book is written in a way that you could skip over pages to shorten the book. This is a fairly recently published book, so I’d recommend you check your local library for it. There is another book in the series that would also fit our award: Over and Under the Waves.
Song: I’ve Got Peace Like a River
I’ve Got Peace Like a River is a fun action song that most of the Little Lambs’ parents know. Just in case you need a refresher, here are the lyrics.
Prayer
We finish each Little Lambs meeting with an abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer.
More Book Ideas!
After our meeting, the library books started rolling in. I wasn’t able to use them for my meeting, but I did read through each one so I could tell you about them.
In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming: This is a great book for Little Lambs. There is only a small amount of text per two page spread. It’s a quick read with fun sound verbs. This would be a good choice for classes with busy kids with short attention spans.
Turtle Splash! Countdown at the Pond by Cathryn Falwell is a counting (down) book about turtles. It has a nice text to picture ratio and will introduce the kids to some of the animals who live around a pond. Having only two to three sentences on a page, assume that it is more about counting and less about animal facts. This book will work nicely for the Bodies of Water award.
Have You Seen My Duckling by Nancy Taturi is a Caldecott Honor book. At the very beginning of the story, one of the baby ducks swims away. Mama Duck, and the rest of the ducklings, spend the rest of the story swimming around asking the the other residents of the lake/pond if they’ve seen her duckling. This book is mostly pictures with a small amount of text. Little Lambs will enjoy searching for the missing duckling on each two-page spread. Although it is not heavy on information, kids will see some of the animals that live in/near the water.
National Geographic Kids Ducks by Jennifer Szymanski is full of full-color photographs of ducks! If you are looking for a non-fiction book with photographs, this will be a great choice. The text-to-picture ratio seems great for our preschool crowd, and the photographs will pull them in. This book doesn’t talk about bodies of water or the many other animals that live in/around water, and instead focuses on one animal and the many many different kinds of ducks that live in our amazing world.
While grabbing a link for you, I discovered this book: In the Pond by Aubre Andrus. This is another pre-reader from National Geographic Kids. Although I haven’t read this one yet, the preview pictures look promising, and I think I’ll want to take another look before I prep for this award the next time around.
Pond Walk by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace is a sweet story of a bear and his mama going for a nature walk to the pond. They discover so many things at the pond! Mama and Buddy (the little bear) fill their nature journal with sketches and details about all the plants and animals they discover at the pond. This book is full of great details of pond life.
I do think this book is a bit long for Little Lambs and would be better appreciated by a slightly older or smaller audience. If you are earning awards at home or as part of your homeschool program, this book would be a great choice. (Note for conservative churches: Bears are wearing clothes and act very much like humans.)
Reminder
I chose these activities to fit my club’s meeting length and needs. Your club is different than mine! I have more activities here than are required to complete the award. If you have less time, prioritize a book, a game, a craft, and a song. Add more activities in to fit your time constraints. If you have extra time, you could repeat a fun activity or add in other water-related activities. Pinterest is a great resource for activities and book suggestions.
What game do you like to play with your little lambs about bodies of water?
If you use these ideas, could you do me a favor and come back and comment about how they worked for your club? I’d love to hear about your experience.