Ocean Week - Day 1

We're going to start this week out with an easy activity! Well, because Mondays are Mondays and for some reason even though I'm a stay-at-home mom, I'm always dragging on Mondays! So let's make an...

Ocean Coloring Book!

I found these excellent printable coloring pages at http://www.educationalcoloringpages.com/. Simply print them out and use construction paper to create a front and back cover, and staple! Or if you have a hole-puncher and some extra yarn lying around, you can punch holes along the left edge and tie together with yarn. I'm also planning to cut fish and sea shapes out of different colors of construction paper, and let my daughter glue them to the front cover. I've never let her use glue before... so I guess we'll see how it all turns out!

Also on the agenda for today:

Movie: Finding Nemo

Lesson: Whales

I printed out these whale facts from Whale-World.

1. Whales are mammals.

This means that whale calves grow inside their mothers until they are born. Besides, they are nursed and taken care by their mothers until they reach certain age.

2. Whales breathe air as we do.

Therefore, they need to reach the surface of the ocean to breathe because they cannot breathe underwater.

3. To breathe, whales have a blowhole in the top of their heads.

When they reach the surface, they take air in through this blowhole.

4. There are two types of whales, Baleen Whales and Toothed Whales.

There are several species of whales out there, but they are classified according to the way they feed in two types, baleen whales and toothed whales.


5. Baleen whales feed from krill and plankton.

Krill are shrimp-like creatures which are very important ocean creatures.


6. Toothed whales feed from fish and small mammals.

Toothed whales eat several kind of fish, like tuna, cod and salmon among others and some small mammals like seals.

7. The Blue whale is the largest animal in the world.

Even more, it is the largest animal that has ever existed, even larger than the largest dinosour ever found. The blue whale is a baleen whale.

8. Some baleen whales sing.

Particularly the blue whales and the humpback whales are well known for singing.

9. Whales can swim as fast as 30 miles per hour.

10. Some Whales can stay underwater for as long as 90 minutes.

This applies mainly for the sperm whale which can stay underwater for as long as 90 minutes, although a typical dive for other species is around 35 minutes.

11. Whales do not sleep as we do.

To rest, whales sleep only half brain so they remember to take air in, otherwise they would drown.

12. The most famous story about whales is Moby Dick.

Moby Dick is a novel released in 1851 by Herman Melville.

A few pictures from today:

I never even realized that our craft tablecloth goes so well with ocean week, how fun! Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see Tuesday's activity!