Explore ocean life with these free ocean flashcards. Perfect for kids in preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school!
Young children absolutely love learning about the ocean. These cards make great additions to an ocean themed unit study.
20 cards with realistic images of ocean life including plants and animals!
Fun hands-on manipulatives you and your kids will love.
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These flashcards are a digital download in PDF form. That means, no physical copy will be sent to you. The best part is you can print them off and start using them right away!
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Make sure to check out the bottom of the post to get access to your free printable set.
Age Range
- Toddlers
- Preschool
- Kindergarten
- Elementary
You can use these ocean flashcards with a wide range of kids. Perfect for a homeschool setting or when working with kids of multiple ages.
Additional Flashcard Collections: Insects and Letters of the Alphabet
Each card has a colorful image along with the name of the item written in bold text.
Once printed, there are so many fun ways to use these cards with your kids! Great as learning resources when exploring the beach and ocean.
Common Ocean Life
- Barnacles
- Clam
- Conch Shell
- Crab
- Jellyfish
- Kelp
- Mussel
- Octopus
- Oyster
- Red Algae
- Sand Dollar
- Seagull
- Seal
- Sea Turtle
- Seaweed
- Shark
- Snail
- Starfish
- Stingray
- Whale
Each flashcard includes a colorful image of a species of ocean life. Bright and colorful, yet realistic. Perfect for younger kids and older children.
Along with the images is a name written in bold fond. Names are easy to read along the bottom of the flashcard.
Related Post: Coral Reef Coloring Pages
Skills to Practice
- Classification
- Identification
- Names of Plants and Animals
- Reading
- Sorting
- Spelling
Use these cards when learning about different ocean life with your young child. Each card features an easy to recognize plant or animal.
Bright and colorful images make learning about the ocean fun!
As they look over the cards you can read the name of each item together. Flashcards are a great way to practice sounds and letter recognition as you look at the different words.
Kids can then learn the name that is associated with each of the images.
How to Use Flashcards
- ID Cards
Pair these cards with a few great children's books about the ocean. Flipping through the flashcards is a great way to identify common ocean life.
A great introductory activity is to have your kids sort the cards into two piles. One that has plants and animals they recognize and a second pile with ones that are new to them.
- Matching
Print off two sets of the cards for an ocean themed matching game. Simply flip over the cards and let your kids find the matching image.
Helpful Hint: If playing this game with toddlers, use only a few cards at one time. Young children can easily become overwhelmed by too many choices.
- Memory
Similar to matching, you can flip over the cards and try to remember which card was where. Even using 6 of the cards would be a fun activity for very young children.
- Sorting and Classification
Let your kids sort the flashcards into different piles. Some kids will need a prompt to get them started while others will start sorting on their own.
Kids can sort by: color, size (in real life), plants and animals, alphabetical order, the first letter of the word, or any other characteristic.
Sorting and classification is a really easy way to practice higher level thinking skills!
Even spending a few minutes making observations about the images on the cards is a great learning activity for kids of all ages.
You can then discuss what your kid's notice within the images.
How to Set Up the Cards
- After downloading the pdf file, you will want to print them off using your printer. Heavy weight paper, such as cardstock makes for a sturdier card.
2. Then cut out the cards using scissors or a paper cutter.
Each ocean flashcard has rounded edges which makes them smooth for little hands. But you can leave the edges square cut if you want.
3. For added durability you can laminate the set. I would do this after cutting them out to make sure all of the paper is sealed in plastic. I personally have this laminator and have been really happy with it.
Just make sure to leave a small edge (roughly ¼ of an inch) of plastic around all of the cards as you cut them out.
4. After that, you are ready to start using the cards with your kids!
Additional Activities
If you are exploring oceans together, make sure to check out these additional free resources.
Ocean Coloring Pages:
Head to the local library and sign out some books about ocean animals. Both fiction and nonfiction books are great learning resources for kids.
Life Cycles is a wonderful resource if you are looking for a science resource to use with your kids. Inside you will find the life cycle of a jellyfish, periwinkle, a spider crab and so much more!
Go for a walk at the shore or spend a day exploring the beach. So many sea creatures can be found even in the winter at the ocean.
Print off this Beach Scavenger Hunt to guide your adventure! You can even bring along this set with you as your explore together.
Printable Ocean Flashcards
- Set of 20 PDF downloadable flashcards
- A colorful image on each card
- Names of items written in bold text
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Here on the blog, I create and share activities you can do with your kids ages preschool through upper elementary.
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Mariana says
Printing these off to use in the car on our drive to the beach! Perfect as always! Thanks, Julie!
Julie says
Wonderful! Enjoy
Elkjane says
My students are going to love this, thank you!
Julie says
Awesome! Thank you for Elkjane for commenting
rustie says
thanks
Julie says
You're welcome Rustie
Emelder ONeil says
Thanks
Julie says
You're welcome Emelder