Growing With Science Blog

Our family finally made it to the beach and had a lot of fun. We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and saw the “Secret Life of Sea Horses” exhibit. It was awesome, take a peek:

What kind of creatures are sea horses? Are they fish? They have an exterior that looks rather hard, so some people might wonder if they are crustaceans. The tiny fins and gills give it away though, sea horses are fish! If you replay the video, look for the tiny gills and fins moving.

Sea horses and their relatives, the pipefish and seadragons, are called gasterosteiform fish because they lack scales and have bony plates instead. They are poor swimmers and often rely on camouflage to hide from predators. The seadragons in particular have so many leafy flaps on their bodies they look like floating seaweed instead of animals.

Sea horses are carnivores and eat small crustaceans, such as tiny shrimp and planktonic invertebrates.

Activities:

1.Gyotaku and fish anatomy

Are you familiar with the Japanese art of gyotaku, making prints or rubbings from fish?

Traditionally, prints were made by applying paint to actual fish. Today you can also buy rubber or plastic replicas if you don’t have access to whole fish. You can print on paper or cloth as you choose. This particular fish is printed on cloth.

Gyotaku is great because it incorporates both art and science into a fun learning experience. While the children are looking at the fish they can learn fish anatomy (see resources below) and also details useful in identification of individual species. There are loads of places to learn more about gyotaku on the Internet, just load up your favorite search engine and go.

Try this gyotaku lesson plan at ArtsEdge for ideas.

Dick Blick art supplies has a model sea horse.

Acorn Naturalists also sells gyotaku supplies.

2. Moving Through the Water.

Different fish have different shaped bodies. Do some move through the water more easily than others?

(See fish body shapes .pdf in resources below) Edit: no longer available

Gather:

• modeling clay
• string or yarn
• scissors
• sink with water

Cut a few pieces of string about 18 inches long (at least two). Form a few golf ball-sized lumps, the same number as pieces of string. Take a small lump of clay and wrap around one end of the string, so the string is embedded. Form the lump into a rough sea horse shape. Now take another ball of clay and wrap around another piece of string. Form this into a typical fish shape, such as a trout. This shape is called fusiform. Put each shape into the sink and drag across the water. Does one shape move more easily than others? Try some other fish shapes as well. Which shape moves through the water most easily?

Resources:

Nova Program: Kingdom of the Seahorse Resources

National Geographic Seahorse

Tennessee Aquarium Seahorses

(Edit: broken links were removed.)

Now it is time to finish our summer beach science series and get ready for fall. We’ll miss the sand between our toes (although I think I still have some in my hair), but look forward to a brisk change of pace and some autumn foliage.

To check the rest of the posts on beach science, follow these links:

Shore Birds

Tide Pool Invertebrates

Beach Science- Boats

Beach Science Algae

Beach Science-Sand

Beach Science-Seawater

Weekend science fun will be short this week because a few things are getting in the way. (Sick cat, sick computer, etc.)

To continue beach science, let’s take a look at some other common visitors to the seashore. Grab an identification guide and some binoculars, and a camera if you want, and let’s investigate.

You may have seen sea gulls dozens of times, but have you really looked at one? Check out those pink webbed feet.

Investigation 1. How do the beaks and feet of shore birds differ from those of the song birds in your community? How are they similar? Ever seen a pelican at the beach?

Shore birds always seem busy.

Investigation 2. What do shore birds eat?

Investigation 3. Do shore birds drink? Where do they get their water?

Shore birds are often in big groups, like these cormorants.

Investigation 4. Why are shore birds often seen in flocks?

Investigation 5. Where do different types of shore birds nest?

(Hint for 4 and 5: think about bird movement or migration).

Now lie down on the beach, close your eyes and listen.

Investigation 6. What sounds do shore birds make?

Hope you have fun discovering shore birds.

Drop us a note in the comments and let us know what you find out.

Edit: To check the rest of the posts on beach science, follow these links:

Sea Horses and Other Fish

Tide Pool Invertebrates

Beach Science- Boats

Beach Science Algae

Beach Science-Sand

Beach Science-Seawater

Have you ever explored a tide pool while at the beach?

Wow, what are all those weird creatures? Did you recognize the arms with the suckers? How about the purple spiny things?  Ever see a seashell scoot around like that? Tide pools are fascinating places to study science.

A majority of the animals you see in a tide pool are classed as invertebrates, which means they lack backbones. Invertebrates include animals like

jellyfish,

hermit crabs,

sea stars or starfish,

(Courtesy of Free Stock Photos for websites – FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

and

sea anemone.

(For more videos of tide pool creatures, try Marine Invertebrates Race Rocks.)

Activity: Today we are going to hone the observation skills needed to identify and classify the many diverse marine invertebrates by creating models.

First let’s get some inspiration by taking a look at models of marine invertebrates in the article More Than Art: The Blaschka Marine Invertebrates by William Warmus. Warmus tells the story of how when Thomas Eisner arrived Cornell University during the 1950s, he discovered a locked cabinet full of dusty sea creatures made of glass, and eventually traced their origins. Cool story with awesome photos!

Gather:

• Photos/drawings of various marine invertebrates such as the Invertebrate Guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Toothpicks, paint, markers, chenille, wikki stix (optional)
• Your favorite modeling compound such as:

- Salt dough
- Modeling clay
- We used: Crayola Model Magic (see below) with a coupon from the craft store

Study the examples and then create your own models. You can push in toothpicks as spines, and chenille or wikki skix as legs. Let the models dry and then paint and decorate them. You can use your models to create fun tidal pool scenes by adding rocks and/or construction paper algae.

Ideas:

If you have never tried it, Crayola Model Magic is a lot of fun. Look for sales and coupons. It is very easy to use and forgiving, so have fun and let your creativity loose!

If you are interested in downloading a poster of marine invertebrates, go to SPC Coastal Fisheries brochures and posters site and scroll down about half way to the “Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific Islands” poster.

I also recommend realistic aquatic invertebrate toys, especially is you live far from the beach. They are wonderful for bath play and can be used to build vocabulary. We used ours for sorting games too, a classification skill.

Books:
Children’s

A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Eric Carle’s beautiful illustrations make this book a perennial favorite.

How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures by Ruth Heller
Ruth Heller is another favorite author of ours. This is a fun introduction to camouflage in the animal kingdom that teaches about a number of novel sea creatures.

What Lives in a Shell? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and Helen K. Davie (Illustrator)

Simon & Schuster Children’s Guide to Sea Creatures by Jinny Johnson

There are a number of books about a single group of invertebrates, here are just two examples:

Sea Stars by Lola M. Schaefer

Crab by Lloyd G. Douglas

Adults might enjoy:

The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean (P.S.) by Trevor Corson

Edit: To check the rest of the posts on beach science, follow these links:

Sea Horses and Other Fish

Shore Birds

Beach Science- Boats

Beach Science Algae

Beach Science-Sand

Beach Science-Seawater