Dive Into an Under the Sea Classroom Theme This School Year

Are you diving deep underwater with your classroom theme in 2024? This under the sea theme decor bundle has you covered with themed printables for your classroom displays, labelling, awards and more!

Download this bundle of printables — plus a PowerPoint presentation that you can use to theme your slide decks — and pair it all with oceanic decor throughout the classroom.

How to Create an Under the Sea Classroom

Under the sea decor is amongst the most versatile classroom themes. It’s fun for multi-age students who will enjoy the adventure of learning in a room filled with their favourite marine animals, and it opens the door for countless learning experiences for older students too — whether you’re talking about protecting our oceans from plastic pollution in your sustainability lessons or exploring the world’s five oceans in geography!

Here are just a few ideas to help build the complete under the sea theme in your classroom this year:

1. Turn your classroom reading corner into a beachside hangout. Use soft pillows or cushions in shades of blue and green to resemble the ocean, then add a small tent or canopy decorated with seashells and a fishing net for added effect. You can even name your reading corner the Reader’s Reef to complete the theme.
2. Incorporate your theme into your learning centres or rotations.  For maths, use seashells or fish-shaped manipulatives for counting or sorting activities. In English, create a ‘Shipwrecked Spelling’ rotation, or use our ‘Fishy Find’ words game where students ‘fish’ for their Dolch sight words!
3. Rename your teacher desk as the ‘captain’s deck.’
4. Create a porthole with one of your windows. Do you have a window on your classroom door or a window that faces outside? You can create a fun porthole for your pupils to look through, as if they were in a submarine! Cut the centre from a paper plate, and paint the plate black. Place the plate at the centre of the window and use blue window paint or window paint pens to add the ocean around the ‘hole.’ Add some of the marine creature cut-out decorations from this theme bundle, and you have a fun feature your pupils will love!

Under the Sea Classroom Display Ideas

This theme bundle has two options when it comes to printable display letters plus cut-out decor for your classroom. Why not plan displays throughout the school year that go with your under the sea theme? Here are a few ideas from the Teach Starter team to get you inspired to build your underwater-themed display:

• Kindness Is Cool in This School (feature a school of fish!)
• Perseverance = Just Keep Swimming
• Diving Into the Sea of Knowledge
• Under the Sea, We Learn Happily
• We’re Exploring the Depths of Learning
• We’re So Happy to ‘Sea’ You
• Our Class Is Fin-tastic
• Learning is Fin-tastic
• In This Class, We Swim Together
• Welcome Aboard
• Set Sail for Learning
• Dream Higher Than the Sky & Deeper Than the Ocean
• This Class is Turtle-y Awesome

Under the Sea Group Names for the Classroom

Are you planning to name your classroom groups to fit your watery classroom theme? Grab your scuba gear, and dive into this fun list to complement your new decor!

• Orcas
• Blue whales
• Humpbacks
• Narwals
• Belugas
• Dolphins
• Seals
• Sea jellies

More Teaching Resources With an Ocean Theme

Don’t stop there! We’ve compiled some of our favourite teaching resources featuring ocean-going creatures that you can add to your teacher toolkit. We hope your school year goes swimmingly!

teaching resource

Ocean Themed Collective Noun Dominoes

A set of ocean themed collective noun dominoes.

teaching resource

The World's Continents and Oceans – Teaching Presentation

An editable PowerPoint to use when teaching your students about the world's seven continents and five oceans.

teaching resource

Comprehension - Stop Polluting The Ocean

A comprehension activity using a persuasive text.