Part of:
Convex Seascape SurveyEmpower young students to become ocean advocates through playful, toy-based learning. Students will transform their favorite toys into "Ocean Heroes" who can share marine knowledge and inspire action. By creating a toy gathering with mini-placards, children express their ocean discoveries in a developmentally appropriate way while building the confidence to ask grown-ups to join them in protecting our seas. This creative approach makes conservation accessible and exciting for young learners.
Share ocean discoveries with confidence and excitement
Transform toys into ocean heroes who help protect the seas
Express care for marine environments through play
Work together to inspire grown-up action
1. Our ocean story (10 mins)
Take the opportunity at the start of this lesson to review the learning over the previous lessons. Start with a whole class discussion by asking students what their favourite ocean discovery has been. Note down comments on a board or electronically.
The journey that students have taken focused on the ocean as a place of diversity, interdependence, and fragility. Use slides 4 to 8 to review learning from the previous lessons:
Lesson 1 - the ocean is huge and has different areas which can be cold, mild, or warm
Lesson 2 - the ocean has many different homes, each with their own animals and other life
Lesson 3 - the ocean’s animals need different things to survive, from safe homes to food
Lesson 4 - the ocean gives us many things from food to jobs to fun
Lesson 5 - the ocean is changing, and this can affect animals, including humans
Don’t worry about getting into suggested actions at this stage. The aim here is to remind students of the importance of the ocean to all life on Earth.
2. Every toy can be an ocean hero! (10 mins)
Advocacy for tackling the climate and nature crises takes many forms. In essence, advocacy is asking those with power to make changes that individuals cannot. In a school, power structures are pretty clear, with students at the bottom and senior leaders and governors at the top.
Through creating a toy ‘ocean hero gathering’, students can arm their favourite toys with insights and asks, creating a sense of playful purpose. This gathering can be shared with school leadership and other stakeholders, and perhaps a little calmer than the class marching around the school with placards!
In the next section, students will create the placards for their toys to carry, but first start to think about what kind of messages different toys might have about the need to protect the ocean. Work through the examples included on slides 10 to 13 and ask students what others they can come up with.
3. Ocean hero messages (25 mins)
Students can now get to work on their signs / placards for the ‘ocean hero gathering’. They can choose from different options and templates. Full guidance is given on the Activity Overview Ocean hero gathering.
4. Ocean hero gathering (10 mins)
Create a joyful gathering of toy ocean heroes that captures the students' enthusiasm for protecting marine life. Document these scenes along with students's excited explanations of why they want to be ocean heroes and what they've learned about marine life that makes them want to help.
5. Ocean hero actions (5 mins)
A list of ocean conservation ideas has been created to share with school leadership. Explain to the class that their gathering will take these ideas to the headteacher to ask for actions to be taken to protect the ocean. Share the general themes using slides 16 to 18, and ask if there are any particular areas that students are keen to see addressed. Celebrate their successful learning journey and hand out the Ocean hero certificates.
As part of the strategy to embed climate and sustainability learning throughout primary school, this lesson has been designed to develop pro-environmental values and build the foundational knowledge needed to address climate and conservation topics more fully in later years.
Values integration
Joy in becoming an ocean hero
Creative expression through play
Confidence in making a difference
Working together to help nature
Using imagination to inspire change
Climate change links
This lesson supports climate change education by developing crucial foundations across multiple areas. Through playful advocacy with toys, students practice democratic participation and learn to engage with decision-makers. The lesson builds environmental values by showing that everyone, no matter how small, can be part of ocean protection.
When students transform their toys into ocean heroes, they develop emotional connections to marine environments and practice expressing care for nature, building the environmental empathy that underlies climate concern. By working together to create their toy demonstration, students develop teamwork and communication skills vital for collective environmental action. The focus on sharing ocean learning through creative expression helps students feel empowered rather than overwhelmed, establishing positive engagement with environmental challenges.
This approach aligns with PSHE objectives around shared responsibility and caring for our environment while supporting the social-emotional development needed for long-term climate engagement.
Ocean words: coral reef, turtle, whale, shark, penguin, fish, dolphin, polar bear, ice, beach.
Action words: save, help, clean, protect, love, care, rescue, guard, defend, look after.
Voice words: ask, speak up, tell, share, say, show, call out, stand up, teach, explain.
Message words: please, together, need, because, join us, listen, important, now, thank you, promise.
Header image: Ocean Image Bank / Toby Matthews