If you’ve been following our daily adventures on Instagram, you know that we have a sea life obsessed toddler. We love learning about our oceans and the creatures that inhabit them. Whether it’s visiting some of our favorite beach destinations, going to aquariums or reading about oceans at home. With World Ocean Day falling annually on June 8, we put together a list of some of the best ocean books for preschool aged kids to help them learn more about our world’s oceans.
Note: These books are all available through my Usborne Books & More Store. As an Independent Consultant with Usborne Books & More, I earn a commission for any books purchased through these links.
Yoga Animals at the Seashore
Yoga at the Seashore is part story and part yoga book for kids. It takes you through a day with a crab as he meets different animals at the beach who guide him through poses to work through different feelings and problems. The illustrations and directions make it a fun, easy way to do yoga with toddlers or kids of any age. This is one of our favorite beach books for toddlers whether we’re at home or are lucky enough to do yoga on the beach.
Shine a Light: Secrets of the Seashore
Secrets of the Seashore is another of our favorite ocean themed books that’s part of Usborne’s Shine-A-Light series. These fun books have hidden pictures that come to light when you shine a picture behind them. This cute seashore book is a fun way to learn about different sea animals and activities in an interactive way.
Non-Fiction Books About Oceans for Preschoolers
- My Very First Seas and Oceans Book is one of the best ocean books for toddlers ages 3+. The illustrations are appealing to younger preschoolers with fun facts written for their level as well.
- Big Book of Sea Creatures: This is one of the coolest sea life books with fold out pages and detailed illustrations. The book itself is pretty big and it also shares fun facts on some of the biggest sea creatures around.
- Look Inside Seas and Oceans is a great children’s book about the ocean for ages 5+. It has detailed facts about the oceans and sea life that inhabits them, with illustrations and interactive flaps throughout.
- 1,000 Things Under the Sea: This book of 1,000 sea related things is great for strengthening children’s language skills and memory recall while learning about oceans. It’s recommended for ages 6+ but can be read out loud with kids 2 and older.
Fictional Ocean Books for Kids
Usborne has several great ocean picture books about sea life with cute characters and fun story lines. Some of our favorite fictional ocean themed books for preschoolers are below.
- This is Crab is a fun book that follows Crab through the ocean as he meets several ocean animals along the way. This book about ocean animals gets kids moving, clapping and shaking to help Crab make his way through the story.
- Worry! Is a great book about feelings for toddlers that has a puffer fish as the main character. He worries about several different things but his ocean friends always make him feel better. The pages are also sturdy, making it great for younger toddlers and preschoolers.
- Shark in the Park is one of several Usborne early readers for preschoolers that features a shark as the main character. It has a cute, rhyming storyline and fun illustrations that make it great for reading out loud or as an early reading book for toddlers.
- Steve, Terror of the Seas is another fun story about fish and other sea creatures. The story shares different facts about sea animals in an interactive way throughout the book.
Ocean Sticker Books
Sticker books are a fun way to learn about sea life and where the different sea creatures reside. If you haven’t used Usborne sticker books before, they’re more than just stickers. Each page includes fun facts that help kids learn about ocean life as they go, and the stickers are easy to peel for even the littlest hands.
- 1001 Things to Spot in the Sea Sticker Book: This sticker book combines colorful stickers with pages filled with fun things to spot throughout. It includes everything from items at the seashore to coral reefs and arctic oceans.
- Little Stickers Aquarium allows kids to create fun scenes with reusable stickers. You can learn about everything from penguins to tropical fish to sharks.
- First Sticker Book Under the Sea: These sea life stickers include several fun underwater pages for kids to learn about a variety of sea creatures.
- First Sticker Book Narwhals: This oceans sticker book includes a variety of scenes with arctic sea creatures like orcas, narwhals, polar bears and more.
Ocean Activity Books
One of the best ways to learn about sea life and oceans in general is through hands-on activities. These ocean activities include things from ocean coloring books to finger print art, puzzles and wipe-clean books. Some of our favorite ocean books for preschoolers are below!
- Look & Find Puzzles Under the Sea: Look and find books are a great way to test preschoolers’ memory recall. This fun ocean book includes a variety of sea life scenes that incorporate searching, matching and counting throughout.
- Under the Sea Book & Jigsaw Puzzle: This 100 piece oceans puzzle comes along with a book to help reinforce the various fish and items found in the puzzle.
- Wipe-Clean Under the Sea Activities: Wipe clean books for preschoolers are a great way to repeat concepts and skills. This activity book includes activities like counting and line tracing to help toddlers learn how to use a pen with an ocean theme.
- Little Transfer Under the Sea Book: This book has bright and colorful illustrations with images that can be rubbed and transferred onto a variety of scenes.
- Under the Sea Magic Painting: Magic painting books are a fun, mess free way to “paint” with preschoolers. All you need is water and the included paintbrush to bring each colorful ocean scene to life.
Looking for more fun ocean books for preschool age kids? Search “ocean” or “sea” in my Usborne Books & More Bookstore for more ideas!
World Oceans Day
Interested in teaching your preschooler more about the oceans and how to conserve them? World Oceans Day falls annually on June 8th and is celebrated internationally as a way to help protect and build awareness of issues facing our world’s oceans. If your child is interested in learning more, be sure to check out the World Ocean Day website. There are several virtual and in person events, as well as resources to learn more about how to protect and conserve the oceans.
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