Under the Sea - For School-Ager's

Last week I had the pleasure of working with our school-aged members. We learned about the different oceans of the world and talked about some different sea creatures you might find in (and around) those different oceans.

1. I showed them a map of the oceans of the world. We counted how many oceans there are and how the map of the world wraps around so the Pacific Ocean's on both sides touch.

2. We read a book together: Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek

3. After we read the book together, I showed them pictures of different sea creatures, some funnier looking than others, and had them tell me what they were. We talked about the leafy sea dragon, the narwhal, the lionfish, the puffin, and octopuses. I showed them where each creature lived on the map of the oceans. We talked about random facts related to each of the creatures, such as what narwhal's use their tusk for or how many known species of octopuses are in the ocean. 

4. We did a "Sink or Float" experiment. I borrowed an idea for an experiment sheet from here, but made my own. 

I used a cotton ball, a pin tack, a rolled up piece of aluminum foil, and a pirate's coin (plastic but I totally stole it from a real pirate...). I had them mark whether they thought each item would sink or float and then we tested them to see. Afterwards, we discussed how salt is dissolved in the sea water, making it denser and able to hold up the lighter items that would sink in the fresh water. 

5. And, for the finale, we made octopuses out of toilet paper rolls. I used the craft from Kids Activity Blog as inspiration, but we didn't have time to have the kids paint them and wait for them to dry (nor did I want to clean up the mess that would entail), so they were given markers and colored pencils instead.