Portholes

Materials:

	2 Dixie paper plates. One of the plates needs the middle cut out.
	A bubble mixture. These are approximate measurements, it takes a little trial and error to make the right consistency. Mix in a 1/2 cup of blue paint, 1/4 cup of dish soap, 2 cups of water.
	Straws
	Plastercine
	White glue
	Sand
	Cellophane or plastic wrap
	Markers

Activity:

1. Mix the bubble mixture up, to find the correct consistency. You know it is the right consistency when you blow bubbles with the straw and the bubbles build up and up and up over the top of the container. When this happens, the children take the whole plate and place it over top of the bubbles, popping them. This should leave blue bubble marks on the plate resembling water bubbles. If you can not see the bubbles after they are popped, add more paint. If the bubbles are not building and building over top of one another, add more water or more soap.

2. After the plate is covered with water bubbles, let it dry.

3. The children then make the bottom of the ocean with glue and sand. First they put the glue on where they want the sand and then they sprinkle on the sand to cover the glue. Let dry.

4. Once everything is dry the children can make their sea creatures with Plastercine to go on their plate.

Strategies:

	To make sea weed, make long snakes and put them together at the bottom
	To make rocks, make a ball and squish it down
	To make an octopus, make a ball and then make eight long snakes for the legs. Then use a pencil to make the indents for the eyes and suction cups on the legs.
	As they are designing their sea creature I ask them to form their creatures on the plate and to really squish them into the plate so that they will stick.
	Once they have finished their creatures, they can then decorate the top of the porthole, which is the plate with the middle cut out.
	When finished, I placed the cellophane in-between paper plates and staple them together making a little window. Submitted by Michelle Bezubiak Back


	Copyright 2001	Last Modified : 01/26/03 06:29 AM