Freshwater vs. Saltwater

Wild animal activities for preschoolers.

— by julie hodos on February 5, 2025

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Sorting wild animal activities for preschoolers is one of the best ways to introduce taxonomy to 3-5 year old’s. In today’s activity we are specifically focusing on water dwelling animals and their water habitat preference.

Does your preschooler know that there is a difference between certain bodies of water? There are oceans and seas and then there are ponds and lakes. Saltwater versus freshwater. And different water dwelling creatures may prefer one or the other.

The wild animal activities sorting printable is available for free!

The printable for this activity is free and can be found at the bottom of this post. Stick around for the activity instructions though because if your child hasn’t grown up around the ocean then you’ll want to do the first part of the activity before the sorting. Bonus! It can be turned into a game as well.

Read books about wild animals and their habitats.

Above and Below by Patricia Hegarty is an excellent read for the wild animals that live in various habitats. The book features both fresh and salt water and is a hit in my home.

If you’re looking for a simpler version or simply want to continue reading beautiful and well-written books then there are two available by Kate Messner. Over and Under the Pond and Over and Under the Waves. All the above books are excellent reads and additions to any homeschool library. 

Part 1 of Wild Animal Activities for Preschoolers: water dwellers

Whether your child knows that there are different types of bodies of water or not I wouldn’t skip this part. We live in Mississippi near the ocean and so visit the beach frequently. My boys have also swam at their grandparent’s pond and lake up north. They know that there is a remarkable difference between the different bodies of water. 

Although this is not new knowledge to them, I still wanted to have a wow factor to begin this sorting activity. By doing this part my boys engage more easily in the beginning discussion then if I was to monologue about salt and freshwater.

Glasses of water.

Fill two glasses with water. In one, stir in a teaspoon of salt. Stir until it dissolves. Once it dissolves, call your child over and place the glasses in front of them. Now ask them to drink one. And then the other. I don’t always tell them what they’re doing. They of course make a face at the saltwater and have asked me before if I got it from the beach. 

This is the wow factor I was going for and now our discussion naturally flows into the different bodies of water. And then I lead it into the wild animals that live in these different habitats. Having read books about freshwater and saltwater animals the conversation flows easily.

Part 2 of Wild Animal Activities for Preschoolers: water dwellers

Once we’re ready it’s time for the sorting activity. I begin by placing three different colors of paper in front of my boys. A blue paper denotes saltwater animals. The green paper is for freshwater animals. And a white paper is placed in the middle to be for animals that go between the two or have specific species that prefer different habitats.

Game time!

You can turn this into a game of hide-and-seek. Your preschooler will leave the room until you’ve placed all the cut out animals throughout a room. I prefer to laminate and place rolled tape on the back so that it can stick on surfaces at different heights.

Once placed, your child can go around and find the various animals. When they find one they bring it over to the colored paper and decide which habitat the animal most likely dwells in. The first couple times we play I am helping them. But each time we clear the papers and I hide the animals again, my preschooler gets more right and needs less help. 

A note on the wild animals. 

  • Some animals, like the salmon, go back and forth between salt and freshwater depending on the cycle they are in, in their life. 
  • Certain species of shrimp prefer salt and some prefer freshwater. 
  • There is a very small percentage of seals that live in freshwater. The majority of seals cannot tolerate fresh water for long because their skin needs the salt in the water.
  • Lastly, crocodiles are found in either type of water, while alligator’s prefer freshwater.

Get the printable for free below and start playing today!

Wild animal activities for preschoolers in homeschool.

From shrimp to bass to sharks, your preschooler will have a better understanding of the various animals that belong to water habitats. If you’re interested in more wild animal sorting activities such as this check out Zz is for Zebra. There is an entire habitat sorting activity. From grasslands to mountains your child will explore more wild animal activities.

Additionally, Who Lays Eggs? Is another excellent printable for an introduction to the taxonomy of animals. Your 3-5 year old will get to sort animals based on if they lay eggs or not.

Creative activities for 3-5 year old’s. 

This activity is a part of a week’s worth of lessons about water. From comparing the forms of water to experimenting with the water cycle your child will have a firm grasp of what makes up 71% of earth’s surface and 60% of our bodies. Check it out at the button below.

Freshwater Vs. Saltwater

Activity Instructions

Materials needed
  • 3 colors of paper (green, blue, and white)
  • Included printable (pages 11-13)

Instructions

  1. Begin by giving your kiddo an example of freshwater vs. saltwater by giving them two different glasses of water: saltwater and freshwater. Allow them to taste the two. They will probably pucker up with the salt water glass. Explain that some animals prefer salt water and can’t survive in fresh and vice versa. 
  2. Discuss with them that lakes and ponds are fresh water. Oceans and seas are salt water. That’s how people distinguish between the two.
  3. Now, place the three papers in front of your child with the white paper between. The green will be the freshwater and blue is salt.
    1. Begin by prompting your child to sort them based on any previous knowledge, giving names if needed. 
    2. After they’ve finished, individually tell your child which body of water an animal lives in and let them decide if their guess was accurate or not. ( i.e. If it lives in the ocean it goes under the salt water category. If it lives in a lake it’s a freshwater animal). 
  4. A note about the printable animals and why they are being considered both or one or the other.

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