Finding Nemo: Educational Activities and Games for 2 to 5 Year Olds

Let's face it, kids love movies, but it's been proven that they should watch no more than 2 hours of TV a day. So why not combine their love of a movie and activities that will help them learn and grow? Following are suggestions for the movie Finding Nemo released in 2003. These activities would also work well for preschool classes and party games for this age group.

Watch the movie

Let your kids watch the show while you prepare the activities for the rest of the day or attend to other responsibilities.

Take a Trip

If there is a nearby aquarium take a trip to go and see the fish. If there is no aquarium near you, your children will have just as much fun watching the fish at a local pet store. Talk to them about what they see. Ask them questions about the colors of the fish, how many there are and see if they can identify the fins and gills and other body parts.

Snack Time

Get some fish crackers or fruit snacks in the shape of fish. Put them in a bowl. Say this little poem as you move the fish so that it looks like it is swimming.

"Oh, do you know this little fish,

This little fish, this little fish.

Oh do you know this little fish

It swims around and 'round."

Then eat the cracker or fruit snack. Invite your child to join you and do it again, while they say the poem with you and make their own fish look like it is swimming.

Read a Book

Read a book that has fish, or other sea life as the main focus. Following are a few suggestions, but you may read any book you have or are able to find at the local library.

• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish By Dr. Suess
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and J. Alison James
• Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni
• Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert
• Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer and P. D. Eastman
• Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins
• The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna
• What's It Like to Be a Fish? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Wendy Pfeffer and Holly Keller

Make a Fish

Trace your child's foot onto a piece of paper and add a side fin eyes and a mouth to make it look like a fish. Let your child use crayons, markers or paint to color it and then use stickers and glitter to decorate it.