Explore Tide Pools

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Key Ideas

Children can explore the wildlife that lives within ocean tide pools. Tide pools are full of things to explore.

Skills | fine motor; gross motor; science; math; geography; creative; social skills; language; emotional
Duration | 25 – 30 minutes
Setting | outdoors
Materials | muffin tin; magnifying glass; tweezers; net

Let's Get Started

Scout out an area with at least one tide pool that you can examine as a group. Shallow ocean water will do in a pinch.

Prepare the muffin tin by filling it with ocean water before you begin.
Gather the group by your chosen water source.
Use your net to collect items and/or animals from the water.
Place these items and/or animals gently in the muffin tin.
Examine what you’ve found using your magnifying glass and tweezers.
When you are finished, carefully release the contents of the muffin tin back to the water, close to where they were found.

What did you find today?
Why do you think they were found in shallow waters?
Do you think they are only found in the ocean? Why or why not?
Why is it important that we are gentle when we collect specimens, and when we put them back?

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We've scarcely begun to understand the diversity hidden in the ocean and the interrelationships among its innumerable parts.