Children have always been fascinated by oceans and seas and the marine life found in them. The movie Finding Nemo is still popular among children and they love staring at the fish swimming in an aquarium. They love everything about the ocean and would love to know about the different ocean layers and the sea creatures living in them. Children would be very interested in knowing how fish breathe in the water or creating a model of the ocean layers or any other activity to do with water.
Sea Creatures and Ocean Layers
This science project can be done with children of all ages as it can provide several learning experiences. It offers learning of the 5 ocean zones for kids as well as the marine animals that live there. Older kids can explore the science of how far light travels in the ocean and how that impacts marine life in each ocean zone.
- You can create your own layers of the ocean by taking 5 small transparent and stackable containers, some water, red, blue and green food colouring, some ocean creatures and a pen and paper to label each ocean layer. A book or two are very helpful to discuss the various ocean layers or zones.
- You can start by writing out the names of the 5 ocean layers — Sunlight Zone, Twilight Zone, Midnight Zone, Abyss and Trenches.
- If you are using ocean creatures, put them in the containers first or the water in the containers may spill over. There are a variety of books available for kids to learn more about which marine animals live in the various ocean zones.
- After adding the animals, fill each container with water and then add food colouring for each of your ocean zones. For the Sunlight Zone or surface zone of the ocean , just touch a toothpick to the blue food colouring and add it to the bottle. For the Twilight Zone add 1 drop of blue colour, for the Midnight Zone 2 drops of blue, for the Abyss 4 drops of blue and for the Trenches 5 drops blue, 2 drops green and1 drop of red food colour.
- Now stack the containers.
- Refer to the books and explain to the children that most of the marine creatures live in the top zone of the ocean or the Sunlight Zone, a few live in the Twilight Zone and as you go deeper into the ocean, you will find very little marine life. You can also tell the children interesting facts like the ocean creatures that live in the deeper layers have the ability to adapt which allows them to live without light or a big food source.
How Does Light Travels through Water
This is something that older children would be more interested in. Tell them that light can only reach a depth of about 1000 metres when it enters the water and then explain the science behind it. When light enters water, the rays are refracted due to the water density. As the light rays are bent or refracted, they spread apart and slow down. Some of the rays are also absorbed by solid particles in the water. The ocean appears to be different shades of blue not because it’s a different colour but because the amount of sunlight that reaches each ocean layer decreases as you go deeper.
The majority of creatures live in the top zone of the ocean as they need light to survive.
You can put a ruler behind the stacked ocean jars so that the kids get an idea of the light travelling through the water and how well they are able to see the ruler when looking through each jar. It’s more visible in the surface zone of the ocean and barely visible in the lower zones.
Other Activities to Explore Marine Environments
- Card decks are also available with themed trivia that kids of all ages find super fun. There are several ocean books, picture books, ocean hands-on activities, documentaries and DVD sets
- You can make an ocean sensory bin with shells and toy sea animals and younger kids enjoy splashing around as they learn.
- You can also take the kids on a virtual aquarium field trip with live webcams and video tours.
- Create an ocean in an egg carton by asking the kids to paint their cartons. They can then decorate them with a variety of underwater objects and stickers.
- You could also use some different shades of blue paint sample strips and label them to represent the ocean layers. Then add drawings or stickers of animals to each layer.
- Assign an ocean themed writing prompt and encourage them to search information on oceans and marine life and write an article on it.
- You could also use some cold and hot water mixed with a little food colouring to demonstrate how ocean currents form.
- You can demonstrate how ocean currents move with a layer of oil floating on the water so that the wave action is more obvious.
- Explain saltwater density to them and how it’s easier to float in salt water than fresh water with an experiment.
- Put together an ocean creature notebook and include a space on each page for kids to fill in the information and add their own illustrations.
- Do an ocean creature research project where each student chooses their favourite, gathers information about it and then gives a presentation or slideshow on it.
- Kids can build Lego sea creatures by looking at pictures or they can even use their imagination.
- Kids also love to sculpt ocean creatures from Play-Doh.
- Tell kids that the blue whale is the biggest sea creature and is even bigger than a dinosaur. Take them to the playground with some chalk and a tape measure and see if they can draw a life-size blue whale, with some help of course.
- Make a cereal box aquarium which not only helps in upcycling but also to personalise their aquariums. Give them a variety of stones, coloured card stock, etc. to decorate it.
Oceans and the marine life in them mesmerise both kids and adults and learning about them exposes them to a whole new world of adventure and mysteries. There is so much that your child can learn about the marine environment and these activities will definitely set your kid on the path of discovery and excitement. If you are looking for more information on the marine environment and activities that will help your child learn more about it, do check the EuroKids website.
