Interactive Games & Activities
Play, explore, and discover with fun interactive tools!
⚡🦸♀️ DISCOVER YOUR SUPERPOWER! 🦸♂️⚡
What amazing power do YOU have?!
🎯 More Fun Games Coming Soon!
Check out Booper’s Story Spinner and other interactive activities!
Meet Booper the Robot!
Your friendly robot pal who loves to learn and play!
Booper is the star of Jan Peck’s picture books! Download free coloring pages, flipbooks, and learn to draw Booper yourself!
🤖 Booper’s Feelings Flipbook
Help kids learn about emotions with Booper!
Can you say, “I love to read” with Booper?
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📚 Free Printables & Downloads 📚
Bookmarks, coloring pages, and more awesome freebies!
🔖 Superpower Bookmarks
Print your own bookmarks and mark your reading adventures!
🥕 Giant Carrot Bookmark
What you’ve always wanted, but your mom wouldn’t let you have – a real carrot bookmark! This is the next best thing!
🌊 Way Down Deep Bookmark
Way Down Deep Adventures
Dive into ocean fun with Jan’s popular picture book!
Join the underwater adventure in “Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea”!
🐠 For Teachers & Parents:
Looking for ocean-themed activities and lesson plans?
Young Writers Corner
Share your stories, enter contests, and get published!
📝 Read Jan’s Story: “The Perfect Dog!”
Enjoy this story, or have Jan read it to you!
🎯 Places to Publish Your Writing
📖 Online Magazines for Young Authors:
These e-zines publish poetry, short fiction, and artwork by children!
💰 Chicken Soup for the Soul
They pay $300 for true, inspiring stories! Stories from kids, teens, and adults welcome.
Important: Be prepared to wait a long time to hear back. They only contact you if they want to use your story.
🏆 Contests & Resources
- KinderArt: The largest collection of free art lessons on the Internet
View Art Contests - The Youth Online Club: Various contests for kids from around the net
Browse Contests - NewPages Young Authors Guide: Literary magazines, publishing opportunities, and legitimate contests
Explore Publishing Options
🎨 Creative Fun
ArtPad: A place to paint and let your imagination soar!
Start Creating!
Teacher Resources & Lesson Plans
Activity guides, classroom ideas, and educational materials
🌊 Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea – Complete Activity Guide
By Jan Peck; Illustrated by Valeria Petrone
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2004
Ages 3-6 | ISBN: 0-689-85110-3
📋 What’s Inside This Guide:
- ✅ Creative writing activities
- ✅ Science lessons about sea creatures
- ✅ Phonological awareness exercises
- ✅ Fun ocean crafts (Ocean in a Bottle, Paper Plate Starfish, and more!)
- ✅ Web resources for ocean exploration
- ✅ Recommended reading list
🎨 Featured Craft Activities:
1. Ocean In a Bottle
Materials: Bottles (peanut butter jars, baby food jars), sand, small plastic sea creatures, plastic grass/seaweed, small rocks, water, salt
Perfect for: Creating a hands-on ocean scene that changes as the bottle moves!
2. Finger Paint Sea Creatures
Materials: Construction paper, finger paint, sponges, wiggle eyes, yarn, glitter, tissue paper
Perfect for: Creative expression and fine motor skills!
3. Paper Plate Starfish Craft
Materials: 9-inch paper plates (2 per fish), glue, paint, beads, scissors, string or magnets
Perfect for: Three-dimensional ocean creatures to hang or display!
🌐 Recommended Web Resources:
- Ocean’s Creatures A to Z: Research sea creatures, watch whale songs, and ocean exploration videos
Explore Ocean Life - Sea Animals Themes: Songs, art activities, games, coloring pages, and snack ideas
Get Teaching Ideas - Ocean Animal Printouts: Coloring and labeling pages for various sea animals
Download Printables
📚 Further Reading Suggestions:
- Carle, Eric. Mister Seahorse. Philomel, 2004.
- Conrad, Pam. The Tub People. Harper, 1995.
- Florian, Douglas. In the Swim. Harcourt, 1997.
- Pallotta, Jerry and Frank Mazzola. The Ocean Alphabet Book. Charlesbridge Publishing, 1986.
- Pratt, Kristin Joy. A Swim Through the Sea. Dawn Publications, 1994.
📧 Questions or need custom activities?
Activity Guide prepared by Karen Verhalen and edited by Jeanette Larson.
Contact Jan at janpeck@gmail.com
💡 Teacher Request from Cindy:
“I am a preschool speech and language pathologist who uses Way Down Deep every year during our ocean unit. Would you consider posting a printable coloring page aligned with your book where kids can mark off the sea creatures as they ‘meet’ them in your story?”
Great idea! Contact Jan if you’d like to collaborate on educational materials!
Cool Tools & Helpful Websites
Technology to help you read, create, and learn!
🔊 The Awesome Talkster
This is a FREE program that reads web pages out loud to you! Talkster can speak online stories or books in “Boy” or “Girl” mode. The voice can be set to “slow” to help you follow along. Perfect for reading practice!
Ask your parents to visit:
Download Awesome Talkster
🌐 Whyville.net
A really fun website for kids created by NASA and the J. Paul Getty Museum!
📝 Note to Parents & Teachers: Feel free to download PDF files and reproduce them for classroom use!
🎉 Watch out for the Invisible Kid on this page! 🎉
“DON’T TOUCH!” I repeat, “DON’T TOUCH THIS BUTTON!”