Check out these AMAZING websites for fun facts and games about marine species, ecosystems, and conservation!

 

ANIMAL CORNER

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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE

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NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

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OCEANA MARINE LIFE ENCYCLOPEDIA

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MARINEBIO CONSERVATION SOCIETY

 

Are you looking for some great books to read and enjoy all about marine life? Check out these great books to purchase directly from our friends at ARBORDALE PUBLISHING

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Below are selected activities from our Marine CSI books YOU can do at home! Let's learn about our ocean planet together!

BRAND NEW! Explore Your Watershed Coloring & Activity Book

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Got a marine science or environmental science question??? Ask our marine biologist here: 

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HERE ARE SOME GREAT ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO AT HOME!

WATER IS EVERYWHERE, WATER IS LIFE

• Craft Me an Ecosystem - Let's explore some marine creatures while learning about their habitats. They don't all live in the ocean!

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• Storm Drain Maze - Follow the water droplet through the maze of the water cycle. Learn how pollution might harm our water sources.

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• Sum of the Parts - Pollution can harm every part of an ecosystem, but once it gets into our water, it's hard to get it out. Can you name different types of pollution and where they might be found in our watershed?

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FOOD CHAINS & FOOD WEBS

• You Seek, I'll Hide - Connect the animals to make simple food chains, then connect the food chains to make a giant food web. For a bigger challenge, write down the names of the animals and cut them out. Then use them to create a matching game!

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• It's a Mutual Thing - Symbiosis is when two animals interact with each other other than in a predator-prey way. There are three different types of symbiosis. Complete this crossword puzzle to find out what they are.

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• Extinction is Permanent - Extinction means there's not one individual of a certain species left on Earth. None. In this activity, you'll be given different scenarios and you have to decide whether that animals is thriving (doing well), threatened (its numbers are dropping), endangered (not doing well), or extinct (gone forever).

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BARRIER ISLANDS & BEACHES

• Sand Critters - Some animals live on the sand, some live in it. Some live attached to rocks or wood pilings, while others crawl along the bottom. Can you find all of them in this beachy word find?

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• Dissection Inspection: Form and Function - In this virtual dissection lab, explore a clam, sea star, and fish from the inside-out. Learn how these animals function living completely submerged underwater and how their body parts are so similar (yet different) to ours.

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• Beat the Surge - Erosion happens every day when the tides ebb and flow from our shores. During storm events, though, erosion can be much worse. See if you know these words associated with storm surge, erosion, and tropical storms in this crossword puzzle.

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SALT MARSHES

• Sea Jelly Sting - Sea jellies come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have a multi-stage life cycle. Color each stage as you learn about them all.

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• Filtration Station - Learn about the importance of the salt marsh and how key species can filter out nutrients to help them grow.

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• A Bed of Biodiversity - Forests aren't the only ecosystem which contain high biodiversity; eelgrass beds of the salt marsh do as well. Compare the two ecosystems to see how they are similar and how they are different using their animals and their habitats.

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MIGRATING SPECIES

• Sea Turtle Survival - Female sea turtles must come up onto beaches to lay their eggs. Help the sea turtle make it from her nest to the ocean without getting stuck in this beachy maze.

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• Baleen In-Between - Whales, dolphins, seal, and sea lions are all marine mammals. They have blubber to keep them warm. Some of them feed with teeth, while others use baleen to strain the water for their food. See if you can find all the words related to this group of animals in this word find.

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• Good Tourist, Bad Tourist - Are you good tourist? See if you are doing the right thing for the environment by answering a series of questions and then take the tourist challenge by creating a fun good tourist brochure or guide for others.

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OCEANOGRAPHY & CLIMATE CHANGE

• S'More Heat - Can you guess how many items we use every day contributes to global climate change? Match the item to the greenhouse when you think you know the answer and see if you get them al!

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• From the Poles to the Coast - Even though polar bears live in the Arctic and penguins live in the Antarctic, their homes are being taken away by global warming of the Earth. Use your artistry to draw their habitats and describe how global climate change is affecting their everyday life.

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• Climate Change Cause and Effect - Do you know all the ways we are contributing to global warming and climate change? Answer these true/false questions to see if you know the best and simplest ways to slow down this process.​​

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MARINE BIOLOGIST & BEYOND

• Panoramic Hydrosphere - Some marine animals have backbones and some do not. Some swim and some crawl. See how many of these animals you can identify as being a vertebrate or an invertebrate.

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• Ecosystem Survivor - Use your best drawing skills to create a brand new sea creature. Describe its habitat, what it eats, and who might eat feed on it.

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• Marine CSI - As a reporter for the local news, you've just heard a crime has been committed against the environment. Do your best investigative work to develop an attention-grabbing news article.

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