Exploring the Ocean With Kids

Did you know that oceans cover 70 percent of the earth’s surface? Scientists still don’t know how many different forms of life exist in the deep: they have catalogued nearly 230,000 separate animal species, with perhaps a million or more yet to be discovered.

What a perfect subject to pique kids’ curiosity and wonder about our world!

Much of the world’s population lives near an ocean, providing many families with ready access to the coastline. But beyond the sand and under the waves lies a world ready to be discovered. There are lots of ways to explore life in the deep, no matter where your family lives.

Zoos and aquariums offer kids an opportunity to observe marine life up close. With the help of the Association of Zoos and Aquarium’s searchable database of AZA-accredited institutions, you can find a zoo or aquarium near your family. These include both well-known zoological parks and smaller marine centers. You might be surprised by what you find in your region!

Thanks to webcams, you and your kids can watch ocean life in real time from the comfort of your home. Here are a few places to start:

• The Aquarium of the Pacific: Observe weedy sea dragons, penguins in their underwater habitat, sea jellies, tropical reef, and a shark lagoon through the aquarium’s live webcams. You might even catch a dive presentation!
• Monterey Bay Aquarium: Located in Monterey, California, this famed aquarium has multiple live webcams. Watch pulsing jellyfish, observe creatures eating in a kelp forest, and enjoy an open-ocean cam where you might see anything from sharks to sea turtles.
• Channel Islands Live Ocean Webcam: The National Parks Service hosts this webcam of a kelp forest in the Anacapa Ocean — nearly 1000 marine species call this ecosystem home.
• National Aquarium: The National Aquarium offers live webcams of their Blacktip Reef and Pacific Coral Reef exhibits. Keep an eye out for Calypso, a 500-pound green sea turtle, among the 70-plus species in the Blacktip Reef.

The web is filled with resources to help curious kids find out more about ocean life.

• Play interactive games at PBS KIDS Splash & Bubbles. Finball Friends is a cooperative game where kids play to keep the ball in play with a team of their favorite Splash and Bubbles characters. Kids will learn lots of interesting facts about Splash, Bubbles, and many of their ocean friends. The game offers a two-player mode, so parents are encouraged to join the fun and play along!
• At the National Marine Sanctuaries site, kids can watch videos of the ocean’s colorful creatures, explore marine careers and play games that promote environmental stewardship.

Picture books are a great way to introduce children to life under the sea and excite their imagination. Take this list with you on your next trip the the library:

1. Secret Seahorse, by Stella Blackstone (Author) & Clare Beaton (Illustrator)

2. A House for Hermit Crab, by Eric Carle

3. A Swim through the Sea, by Kristin Joy Pratt

4. National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of the Ocean, by Catherine D. Hughes

5. Commotion in the Ocean, by Giles Andreae (Author) & David Wojtowycz (Illustrator)

6. Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes (Author) & Jeanette Canyon (Illustrator)

7. Guess Who: Ocean Friends, by Jodie Shepherd (Author) & Laura Ovresat (Illustrator)

8. How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures, by Ruth Heller

9. Seashells by the Seashore, by Marianne Berkes (Author) & Robert Noreika (Illustrator)

10. I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean! by Kevin Sherry

11. The Pout-Pout Fish, by Deborah Diesen (Author), Dan Hanna (Illustrator)

12. Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea, by Jan Peck

13. Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle, by Claire A. Nivola

14. Manfish: A Story of Jacques Cousteau Hardcover, by Jennifer Berne (Author), Éric Puybaret (Illustrator)

15. Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea, by Steve Jenkins