Week 2 — Under the Sea
The week our littlest ones meet the ocean and become its gentlest helpers — and the week we open our doors. Five sensory days under the sea, ending with our Open House. June 8–12 · Littles classroom, ages 2–3.5.
This guide pairs with the General Planning Guide and applies it to Under the Sea, built around the Littles (2–3.5) daily schedule. For our Littles, the ocean is a sensory week — soft animals to hold, gentle waves to make, a classroom sea to scoop and pour. The week's heart is gentle hands: the sea animals are soft, and we care for them slowly and carefully. Each child does their own little version of every activity; nothing here asks two-year-olds to plan or build together. It also ends with our Open House on Friday, June 12 — so the week quietly doubles as getting our ocean ready to show families.
Week Snapshot
The Week Builds Toward Friday
Five gentle days — meet the ocean, learn our soft gentle hands, become little ocean helpers, make our ocean lovely, then show it to our families.
The Daily Rhythm
Every day runs the identical clock — and each day plan below carries it in full, block by block. Four blocks are fixed by the clock — the two snacks, lunch, and the nap. Everything else is flex: that's the curriculum.
Friday, June 12 — Evening
Families come to see what we do. Your part as a teacher is the classroom and the children — not the event logistics (snow cones, the raffle, and the rest are run by the leadership team). Your three jobs:
- Build the ocean. The classroom sensory ocean the children make and care for all week becomes the Open House centerpiece. Keep it lovely and showable by Friday.
- Help the children "show." On Thursday, gently practice the idea that tomorrow each child gets to take their grown-up to the ocean and point things out.
- Welcome families Friday evening. Be warm and present, and let each Little walk their grown-up to the ocean they helped care for.
The good news: the whole week — meeting the ocean, gentle hands, becoming little helpers — is the Open House preparation. You don't plan a separate event. You just do the week well and gently.
Five Days, Fully Planned
Each day is the full run-sheet — every block of the Littles schedule, in order, so you can print a day and run it from the page. Transition and fixed blocks are kept brief; the flex blocks carry the detail.
Combined arrival care. All classrooms together — quiet free play and a soft welcome until the Littles room opens.
Outdoor Play · Ocean Movement
The Littles' day starts outside, while it's cool. Sunscreen and hats on first. Then a gentle ocean-movement game: "swim like a little fish," "float like a jellyfish," "wiggle like seaweed." Call a creature, move like it together — slow, joyful, no wrong way. A soft, happy doorway into the ocean week.
Materials — open space, sun hats, sunscreen.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up for snack.
Fixed
Morning Snack
Calm and social — a settling moment after the yard. Chat warmly: "What lives in the ocean? A fish? A big whale?"
Circle Time — A Hello to the Ocean
Ten minutes, no more — that's all this age needs. Names, one bubbly ocean song. Hold up a soft toy sea creature for everyone to see and pat.
Craft / Tables — My Little Fish
Each child makes their own simple fish — a pre-cut fish shape they press tissue-paper scales or big dot-stickers onto. One step, no template; on Day 1 the point is just coming to the table. Table toys (sea-animal figures, stacking cups) are open alongside for anyone not ready to craft.
Handwash / bathroom. Wash up, then gather for music.
Music & Movement
Ocean songs with big motions — "swim, swim, swim," "the waves go up and down." Loud and joyful; let them move their whole bodies.
Centers / Free Choice — Build Our Ocean (anchor)
The anchor lives here, and grows all week. Set out the sensory ocean — bins of blue water (or blue rice) with soft toy sea animals — plus a small-world ocean with a few smooth rocks and shells. Children scoop, pour, and meet the animals. Parallel play is exactly right: children play near each other, each at their own bit of ocean. You observe, narrate, and name the creatures.
Handwash / bathroom. Tidy the centers, wash up before lunch.
Fixed
Lunch
Calm, social, unhurried. Teachers sit with the children. Day 1, narrate the lunch routine gently — where cups go, how we wipe our spot.
Handwash / bathroom. After lunch, settling toward the wind-down.
Free Choice & Closing Circle
The midday wind-down. Quiet toys — the soft sea animals, ocean board books — then a short, soft closing circle: one calm ocean song, lights lowering. Walk the room gently toward nap.
Fixed
Nap / Quiet Time
The full 2.5-hour nap. Dim lights, soft music, the same quiet-down ritual the room knows. A consistent adult stays near the children who settle hardest.
Wake-up · handwash / bathroom. Lights up slowly, cots away, bathroom and handwash — a gentle thirty minutes, no rush.
Fixed
Afternoon Snack
Gentle and low-key — the day is winding down. A calm table, easy ocean chatter.
Outdoor Activity / Play
A short second outdoor block — but this is the warmest stretch. Keep it light and shaded: a water table with a few floating sea animals, or shade play. Cut it short if anyone's wilting; on a hot day, this block moves indoors.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up.
Cleanup & room reset. The children help — cleanup song. Reset the room for tomorrow.
Closing Circle
A tiny end-of-day moment: "What sea animal did you meet today?" One round of answers — something for each child to carry to their grown-up.
Combined Active Engagement — Departure
The classrooms combine for departure. Warm, specific handoffs: "Ask Mia about the little blue fish she found in our classroom ocean today."
Combined arrival care. All classrooms together — quiet free play and a soft welcome until the Littles room opens.
Outdoor Play · Calm Ocean, Wavy Ocean
Sunscreen and hats, then a gentle ocean game. "Calm ocean" — sway softly, slow arms. "Wavy ocean!" — bigger, bouncier waves. "Calm ocean again" — settle and still. A tiny, joyful taste of stopping and slowing — the seed of self-control, played as a game.
Materials — open space, sun protection. A blue scarf each, if you have them, to wave.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up for snack.
Fixed
Morning Snack
Calm and social. Chat: "Was it easy or tricky to be a calm, slow ocean?"
Circle Time — Soft and Gentle
Ten minutes. Names, an ocean song. Pass a soft toy sea animal slowly around the circle — each child gives it one gentle pat. Introduce the week's little idea: gentle hands.
Craft / Tables — Soft Jellyfish
Each child makes their own jellyfish — a paper-plate or coffee-filter top, with ribbon or crepe-paper streamers to glue or tape on as soft, dangly tentacles. Loose and sensory; the wispy tentacles invite gentle little touches. Table toys alongside.
Handwash / bathroom. Wash up, then gather for music.
Music & Movement
Ocean songs, plus a soft "gentle hands" chant set to a little tune — sing it, and it becomes a calm cue you can use all week.
Centers / Free Choice — The Ocean, Held Gently (anchor)
Back to the sensory ocean. Today the gentle focus: children hold, stroke, and move the soft sea animals slowly and carefully. No project — just the warm, repeated practice of soft hands at their own bit of ocean. You stay close, model, and narrate.
A soft sea animal is the perfect teacher of gentle hands. When a child squeezes too hard or tosses an animal, don't scold — model and narrate: "Soft hands. The little fish likes to be held gently — like this." Show it, and let them try.
For a two-year-old, choosing gentle over grabby — even for a moment — is real inhibitory control, just beginning. You are not drilling it; you are noticing it. Every time a child is soft and careful on purpose, say so warmly: "Those are such gentle hands." That warm noticing is the whole lesson at this age.
Handwash / bathroom. Tidy the centers, wash up before lunch.
Fixed
Lunch
Calm, social, unhurried. Teachers sit with the children.
Handwash / bathroom. After lunch, settling toward the wind-down.
Free Choice & Closing Circle
Quiet toys and ocean books, then a soft closing circle — one calm song, lights lowering. A gentle bridge into nap.
Fixed
Nap / Quiet Time
The full 2.5-hour nap — same dim lights, same songs, same ritual. By midweek it should settle a little faster.
Wake-up · handwash / bathroom. Lights up slowly, cots away, bathroom and handwash.
Fixed
Afternoon Snack
Gentle and low-key — the day is winding down.
Outdoor Activity / Play
A short, shaded second outdoor block — keep it light in the heat. A water table with soft floating animals, or shade play. Move indoors on a hot day.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up.
Cleanup & room reset. The children help — cleanup song. Reset the room for tomorrow.
Closing Circle
A tiny moment: "Show me your gentle hands." One soft round of gentle-hand waves to end the day.
Combined Active Engagement — Departure
The classrooms combine for departure. Warm handoffs: "Ask Noah about gentle hands — he held the soft little octopus so carefully today."
Combined arrival care. All classrooms together — quiet free play and a soft welcome until the Littles room opens.
Outdoor Play · Ocean Movement
Sunscreen and hats, then the ocean-movement game the children know now — swim, float, drift — plus one round of Calm Ocean, Wavy Ocean. Familiar and joyful; it gets the wiggles out.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up for snack.
Fixed
Morning Snack
Calm and social. "Today we get to be little ocean helpers — taking care of our sea animals."
Circle Time — Little Helpers
Ten minutes. An ocean song, and a soft idea: "Our sea animals need someone to take care of them. Today, that's us — little ocean helpers, with gentle hands."
Craft / Tables — A Cozy Spot
Each child decorates a little "home" for a sea animal — a paper-plate tide pool, or a small box they line with blue tissue. Simple and their own; later it's where their animal can rest. Table toys alongside.
Handwash / bathroom. Wash up, then gather for music.
Music & Movement
Ocean songs and the "gentle hands" chant — the week's favorites by now.
Centers / Free Choice — Caring for Our Sea Animals (anchor)
The anchor day. At the sensory ocean, each child gently finds a sea animal, gives it a soft pat, and carries it carefully to a cozy spot (their craft tide pool, or a calm corner of the bin). Each child does their own — this age cares side by side, not as a team, and that is exactly right. The whole activity is soft hands and kind attention.
Handwash / bathroom. Tidy the centers, wash up before lunch.
Fixed
Lunch
Calm, social, unhurried. Teachers sit with the children.
Handwash / bathroom. After lunch, settling toward the wind-down.
Free Choice & Closing Circle
Quiet toys and ocean books, then a soft closing circle — one calm song, lights lowering.
Fixed
Nap / Quiet Time
The full 2.5-hour nap — same songs, same loveys, the same comforting ritual.
Wake-up · handwash / bathroom. Lights up slowly, cots away, bathroom and handwash.
Fixed
Afternoon Snack
Gentle and low-key — the day is winding down.
Outdoor Activity / Play
A short, shaded second block — light in the heat. Water play or shade play. Move indoors on a hot day.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up.
Cleanup & room reset. The children help — cleanup song. Reset the room for tomorrow.
Closing Circle
A tiny moment, and a gentle seed for tomorrow: "In two days, our families come to visit our ocean!"
Combined Active Engagement — Departure
The classrooms combine for departure. Warm handoffs: "Ask Ava about the little sea turtle she took care of today — she found it a cozy spot."
Combined arrival care. All classrooms together — quiet free play and a soft welcome until the Littles room opens.
Outdoor Play · Ocean Movement
Sunscreen and hats, then the familiar ocean-movement games — swim, float, Calm Ocean / Wavy Ocean. Joyful and known; a happy start to a gentle day.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up for snack.
Fixed
Morning Snack
Calm and social. A little happy buzz about tomorrow is fine — let it be warm, not over-exciting.
Circle Time — Our Families Are Coming
Ten minutes. An ocean song, and a gentle, happy idea: "Tomorrow your grown-ups come to see our ocean. Today we make it nice and ready."
Craft / Tables — Ocean Decorations
Children make simple decorations for the ocean display — paper seaweed to tape low on the wall, more little fish, a hand-printed "Our Ocean" sign teachers letter. Loose, sensory, every hand on the display. Table toys alongside.
Handwash / bathroom. Wash up, then gather for music.
Music & Movement
Ocean songs — practice the favorite one the children might sing for their grown-ups tomorrow.
Centers / Free Choice — Make Our Ocean Lovely (anchor)
Two gentle jobs. First, children visit the ocean and tidy it with you — arranging the sea animals, adding today's decorations, making it lovely. Then, very lightly, practice "showing": crouch with a child and ask, "When your grown-up comes, what will you show them?" Let them point and pat. This tiny rehearsal is what makes Friday evening feel happy and proud, not overwhelming.
Handwash / bathroom. Tidy the centers, wash up before lunch.
Fixed
Lunch
Calm, social, unhurried. Teachers sit with the children.
Handwash / bathroom. After lunch, settling toward the wind-down.
Free Choice & Closing Circle
Quiet toys and ocean books, then a soft closing circle — one calm song, lights lowering.
Fixed
Nap / Quiet Time
The full 2.5-hour nap. A calm rest matters today — tomorrow is a big, happy day.
Wake-up · handwash / bathroom. Lights up slowly, cots away, bathroom and handwash.
Fixed
Afternoon Snack
Gentle and low-key — the day is winding down.
Outdoor Activity / Play
A short, shaded second block — light in the heat. Water or shade play. Move indoors on a hot day.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up.
Cleanup & room reset. The children help — cleanup song. Tidy gently around the ocean display so it stays lovely.
Closing Circle
"Tomorrow our families come to see our ocean — and YOU get to show them." A calm, happy note to end on.
Combined Active Engagement — Departure
The classrooms combine for departure. Warm handoffs plus a personal reminder: "We can't wait to see you tomorrow evening — [child] has a whole ocean to show you."
Combined arrival care. All classrooms together — quiet free play and a soft welcome until the Littles room opens.
Outdoor Play · Ocean Movement
Sunscreen and hats, then a happy, celebratory round of all the ocean-movement games — swim, float, Calm Ocean / Wavy Ocean. Let the joy of the last day breathe.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up for snack.
Fixed
Morning Snack
Calm and social — a slightly festive feel is welcome.
Circle Time — Our Ocean Is Ready
Ten minutes. A favorite ocean song, sung warmly. "Tonight our families come to see our ocean — the one we made and cared for all week. Look how lovely it is."
Craft / Tables — A Little Ocean Keepsake
Each child makes one small thing to take home — a sea-animal sticker picture, or a little fish on a stick. A proud, simple keepsake of their gentle ocean week. Table toys alongside.
Handwash / bathroom. Wash up, then gather for music.
Music & Movement
The favorite ocean songs of the week, back to back — a joyful, familiar sing-along to close the week.
Centers / Free Choice — One Last Gentle Visit (anchor)
A last, happy visit to the ocean. Children play gently with their sea animals, give them soft pats, and help make the ocean look its best. When the block ends, leave the ocean set up and lovely — it stays exactly as it is for tonight's Open House. Don't pack it down.
Handwash / bathroom. Tidy the centers — gently, around the ocean display — and wash up before lunch.
Fixed
Lunch
Calm, social, unhurried — a warm last lunch of the week. Teachers sit with the children.
Handwash / bathroom. After lunch, settling toward the wind-down.
Free Choice & Closing Circle
Quiet toys and ocean books, then a soft closing circle — one calm song, lights lowering.
Fixed
Nap / Quiet Time
The full 2.5-hour nap — a real rest matters today, with the Open House this evening.
Wake-up · handwash / bathroom. Lights up slowly, cots away, bathroom and handwash.
Fixed
Afternoon Snack
Gentle and low-key — the camp day winding down.
Outdoor Activity / Play
A short, shaded final outdoor block — light in the heat. A last calm round of water or shade play. Move indoors on a hot day.
Handwash / bathroom. In from the yard, wash up.
Cleanup & room reset. The children help — cleanup song. Clean gently around the ocean display; it stays set for tonight.
Closing Circle
One last gentle moment of the week: "What did you love about our ocean?" A warm, happy close.
Combined Active Engagement — Departure
The classrooms combine for departure. Warm handoffs: "See you tonight! [Child] has a whole ocean to show you." For families leaving before the evening event, send the week's warmth with them.
Open House
Families arrive. Your role: be warm and present, and let each Little take their grown-up by the hand to the classroom ocean — the one they met, cared for, and made lovely all week. They'll point, pat, and beam; that's the whole show. (Event logistics are run by the leadership team; see the Open House box near the top of this guide.)
This Week's EF Lens — Inhibitory Control
One executive-function skill to notice this week — held very lightly, because these are our youngest movers. (The full EF primer is in the General Planning Guide.)
Why gentle hands, and why the ocean
Inhibitory control is the skill of slowing down and resisting an impulse — and in a two- or three-year-old it is just beginning to bud. Under the Sea gives it the gentlest possible home: the sea animals are soft, and a soft animal asks for soft, slow hands. "Gentle hands" is inhibitory control, Littles-sized — choosing careful over grabby, slow over fast.
You are not teaching this as a lesson — for this age, that would be far too much. You are simply noticing it, smiling at it, and saying it out loud when a child is gentle: "Look how softly you're holding the fish." Naming the invisible skill is how a Little begins to feel it. Keep it warm, keep it light, never a scolding.
What gentle, careful self-control looks like this week
- A child who holds a soft sea animal gently, instead of squeezing or tossing it
- A child who slows down to look at a creature before reaching for it
- A child who waits a moment for a turn at the ocean bin
- A child who pats, strokes, or cradles an animal — soft hands, on purpose
Brightwheel This Week
One intentional post a day — a photo and a sentence or two. Thursday and Friday double as Open House reminders. Grab the photo, adapt the caption.
What to Have Ready Before the Week Starts
Stage all of this the Friday before. The routines carry over from Week 1 — this list is the theme supplies and the Open House display.