Ocean, Preschool Learning Activities page 2

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Learning at the Grocery Store

Fun & easy Ways to make this everyday chore a learning experience for both preschoolers and elementary school kids.

Both of these shows make parents cringe, but how do they change the behavior of children who watch them? A simple experiment in child psychology provides an answer, a cautionary warning about how children absorb what they watch on TV.

More Evidence That TV’s
Don’t Teach Tots

Many parents own baby Einstein tapes, but evidence continues to mount that they don’t actually teach toddlers much of anything, despite their name. This article explores recent research into the topic, and outlines differences in the ways that toddlers and preschoolers learn.

Getting Your Baby to Wear Hats, Sunglasses, or
Other Props
You hit the malls and come home with all the latest gear, determined to have more fun accessorizing than you've had in years. You pick out the perfect look, and try it on your baby. Then the first thing they do is yank whatever it is off their head. What do you do? Read and find out.

Child Safety is everyone’s
responsibility!
Child Safety Resources:
Child Safety Books & Information
Child Abduction Prevention
Fire Safety
Water Safety
Child Safety in the Home
Child Proofing Your Home
Gun Safety for Kids
Child Car Safety

Ocean

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Fun facts about blue whales:
* The blue whale is the largest creature to ever live. It can grow to 200 tons and as much as 100 feet long...more than twice the size of the largest dinosaur. The +average+ size of an adult blue whale is around 80 feet in length and nearly 200 tons. To put this in perspective, a single blue whale weighs as much as the entire National Football League.
* The tongue of a blue whale alone weighs as much as an elephant. It's heart is the size of a small car.
* It's scientific name, Balaenoptera Musculus, is Latin for "little mouse whale." Apparently, someone had a sense of humor when they named it.
* Every day one whale swallows some 4,000,000 Krill.
* The blue whale has two blow-holes atop its head, each big enough for a toddler to crawl into.
* Even as a baby, a blue whale can make a grown man seem like a minnow. At birth a blue whale averages 25 feet long and weighs about three tons.
Feeding only on its mothers milk, which is made up of 40% fat, a calf gains about 9 pounds every hour.

Related curriculum: To put this growth rate in perspective, make around 9 or 10 9 pound sandbags. Have children feel one of the bags or carry it around with them. Every hour, set another sandbag out in a backpack or on a heavy blanket. At the end of the day, have kids try to lift the wieght or feel how heavy it is, and emphasize that this is how much a baby blue whale would grow during just the time they were at school that day.

* No one has ever witnessed the birth of a blue whale.
* A blue whale can swim as fast as 20 miles per hour
* The song of a blue whale bull (papa blue whale) is the mightiest song in the sea. Theoretically, it is capable of traveling halfway across an ocean basin. That would be like you shouting "hello" while standing in California and have people in New York hear it!

Did you know ...
A type of sea creature called the Green Sea Slug (Elysia Chlorotica) is shaped much like a leaf. But that's not all. Scientists recently discovered that this species of animal can actually manufacture chlorophyll and capture energy from sunlight; something normally only plants can do. It may be the first known case of a plant/animal fusion...it's both a plant and an animal at the same time! As zoologist John Zardus of the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina says: "that's just cool."

Related curriculum:
* Group time discussion: Ask the kids: If you could mix with a plant, what type of hybrid would you be?
* Art activity: Have the kids draw their own creations of plant/animal hybrids, using pictures from nature magazines as an inspiration.
* Art/Fine motor: Go through a bunch of scrap magazines and cut out all the animals and plants you can find. Set the clippings out at a table along with glue & paper, scissors and crayons. Have the kids trim and cut apart the different animal and plant parts, then reassemble them by gluing them on their paper to create their own plant-animal hybrid.
After they're done, they can decorate the background with crayons, and you can add language to the activity by having them dictate a story about their creature when finished.

Snail bites ... shark?
In the ocean, there is a type of snail that likes to eat sharks. It works its way up through the sand underneath angel sharks, who rest on the bottom of the ocean in waters off California. Then it threads its proboscis into a vein in the gills and sucks the sharks blood, sort of like a gooey mosquito bite.

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