Playtime Felts — Little pieces. Big storytelling.

← All Storytime Ideas

Animals and seasons · Listening and movement

Ocean animal movement clues for preschool

Hide a sea animal behind a paper wave and let children guess it from a movement clue.

Try the activity
Colorful felt sea creatures arranged on the Under the Ocean playmat.View this felt set on Etsy Opens in a new tab

Who’s hiding behind the wave?

Prep · About 3 minutes   Play · About 8 minutes

Gather · A strip of blue paper for a wave and three familiar ocean animal pictures or felt pieces. Try a crab, an octopus, and a fish.

  1. Meet the animals. Show the three animals and act out how each one moves. Scuttle sideways for a crab, wave your arms for an octopus, or glide a hand like a fish.
  2. Hide one behind the wave. Turn the pictures away and tuck one behind the blue paper. Give one movement clue and let children say or show their guesses.
  3. Reveal it and switch turns. Slide the animal out and act out its movement together. Let a child choose the next animal and give a clue.

Try saying · “I move sideways across the sand. Who could be hiding behind the wave?”

Make it easier · Use two animals and leave matching pictures in view while you give the clue.

Keep it going · Ask children to make up a two-clue riddle using movement and a body feature.

Get the materials

Storytime Club · Annual library

Print it for your next storytime

Find the Ocean animals worksheet bundle PDF in the annual library. Print the bundle to revisit ocean animals after the guessing game.

Bring more stories to life with printable story pieces and themed worksheets. The annual pass gives you instant access to the full Storytime Club library for $97 a year.

Explore the Annual Pass