This week’s theme:
Mysterious Places – The Ocean
Fact of the day:
As the tide goes out, sea creatures and plants are revealed in the glittering rock pool waters left behind.
Resources list:
Beachwear and beach accessories; sand, pebbles; Youtube; Plastic box or bowl; Waterproof paint; Playdoh, plasticine; Washing up bowl; Blindfold, fruit and veg; Toilet roll tube, pipecleaners; Bag of objects; Bubblewrap, soap.
Activity 1:
Get dressed for a visit to the beach, pop on your hat, sunglasses, shorts and tshirts. In your beach bag pop in a beach towel, suncream and an inflatable. Bring a crabbing bucket or a net for the rock pools, we’re going to need them most!
If you have some, dip your toes in some sand (or put your finger tips in a bowl of sugar to feel a similar sensation and sound). If you have some, clink together some pebbles, as if you’re walking towards a rockpool on the beach. Make the sound of waves crashing as you move further towards the beach.
Dressed for the beach, hop on your surfboard for a dance, or move in and out like the tides to this song.
Activity 2:
In a plastic box/bowl/tub create a sensory rock pool of your own with stones, shells, sand, etc and fill it with water. You could paint some sea creatures on some of the rocks to submerge into your rock pool. Have a feel around in your rock pool with your hands or feet.
Activity 3:
One of the creatures that sometimes live in rock pools are Hermit Crabs.
Hermit Crabs don’t have their own shells, so live inside any empty shell they find. They need a shell as they have very soft bodies that they need to protect – like the inside of an egg needs an egg shell. Make a soft hermit crab from playdoh or plasticine, or draw one on paper. See what objects in your house you could place on top that might make a hard, temporary shell for it – maybe an egg cup, maybe part of an egg box, maybe the lid of a bottle. One hermit crab even lived inside a Lego shell!
Practice your sideways walking like a crab. Try doing it with a washing up bowl on your back, mimicking a shell.
Hermit crabs have 2 antennae, one for smelling and one for tasting. Have a blindfolded smell and taste test of some different fruit and vegetables cut up – can you identify them without seeing what they look like? Do you wish you had antennae to help?
Activity 4:
Sea Anemones are other creatures that live in rockpools. Make some of your own, they could maybe look like this or this. Why not take a photo of your Anemone and share it with us? You can share it on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter or send it to melanie@purplepatcharts.org and we’ll put it online for you!
Activity 5:
A Starfish has eyes at the tip of each of its arm. It is very likely that Star fish eyes can see in every direction at once!
Practice ‘seeing’ with the tips of your arms (your hands!!) Have somebody hide 10 different objects in a bag. Blindfolded can you ‘see’ what the objects are by feeling them? Are they hard/soft, warm/cold, smooth/rough, big/small. Do you know what they all are?
Activity 6:
Seaweeds are edible plant-like organisms that grow in the ocean. One type that we see a lot of in the UK is Bladderwrack. Make your own by cutting some bubble wrap into strips. Put it into a bowl or sink of water and feel the bubbles underwater as if they were the bladders (also known as vesicles) of the Bladderwrack. Add some soap on your hands to create a more realistic slipperiness of the seaweed!
Add on activity:
See if you can identify any other creatures that live in rockpools here.