Working with science to clean up our waters. I put some plastic bags in the "ocean" and had Nicky clean it up using tweezers to save her fishy friends. Although she doesn't quite know the meaning of this, it was great fine motor skills practice. Plus, it's never too early to teach her not to litter.

MATERIALS:

• Backing soda

• Vinegar

• Food coloring

• Plastic bags

• Sea animals

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1:Lay out backing soda and place sea animals and plastic bags on top.

STEP 2: Add a few drops of food coloring to vinegar and add the solution to the backing soda. Watch it fuzz like the ocean.

STEP 4: Using tweezers or fingers, have the child pull out the plastic bags.

By combining different color food coloring to blue, you can make different shades of blue. I added a drop of pink to two drops of blue to make the color lighter. I also added a drop of black to three drops of blue to make it a deep blue color. This is why the "ocean" looks multicolored like the real ocean. Nicky really enjoyed this activity because she was able to do pretty much everything herself. She poured the baking soda, she poured the colored vinegar, she added the fish and plastic bags and she was able to use the tweesers really well. This is definitely a repeat activity for us.