Above left: brine shrimp in a section about the Great Salt Lakes.
Above right: The coral reef community.
Above left: the learning stations where there were several mini tide pool communities for the kids to feel and learn about the sea stars, urchins, cucumbers, horseshoe crabs etc.
Above right: the touchpool which had turtles, fish and rays.
Octopus that enthralled the kids. Both of them like this YouTube clip showing an octopus devouring a shark (seriously), so they kept asking how come it's possible, when they saw the small mouthpart.
Above: various shark mouthparts and dentition, where kids have to try to match them to the correct shark.
Zoe left first, and I brought the kids for another round, since it was a small aquarium and I wanted the admission fee to be worth it. Also, I had printed some worksheets for ds1 to do, and we went the 2nd round for him to find all the answers. Those worksheets are very simple, like a table or a chart, to compare different animals, whether they lay eggs or give birth to live young, how do they feed, any legs/ fins/ gills and so on.
Though simple, it helped the kids realise that the animals are very different and unique, despite sharing the same habitat in the waters. The shark and the whale, for example, are worlds apart, one being a fish and the other a mammal.
When we went home, and ds2 napped, ds1 and I made more sea creatures to hang onto our lamp. Which meant, everytime dh and I walked past, we get the sea jelly's tentacles brushing our faces and necks. Can be irritating, haha. But I know why we live with such things, because the kids love it to hang there, and their childhood is short, just let them be happy.
