Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Ocean Explorium

 A few days ago, I took C, R, and their friend, A, to visit the Ocean Explorium.  The Explorium houses a variety of marine animals (the seahorses and jellyfish were wildly popular with my group), and a community touch tank.  There is also an activity center for crafts, dramatic play, and more.


We spent most of our visit at the touch tank.  Luckily, we had the place to ourselves and had all the time we wanted to learn about the marine life in the tank.  Here are a few things we learned:

a starfish has an eye at the tip of each arm,
 if you hum while holding periwinkles, they will come out of the shell (I asked the marine specialist {not sure of her real title} for an explanation and she said the vibrations supposedly bring them out of their shells, but she wondered if it was really just a way to have patience while waiting for them to decide to come out. 

The uglier the crab, the nicer it is.  The prettier crabs tend to pinch more.  The crab in this picture is a spider crab, and the pinchers are way too small to actually hurt anyone, but neither C, R nor A would hold it.  They did touch the shell though.


C, R, and A had a great time learning about the living things in the touch tank.  Tomorrow, I will post the fun ocean crafts they made at the Ocean Explorium.

I am linking this to Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom!

8 comments:

Kylie said...

I'm visiting from Science Sunday.

I love those touchy feely pools, they are so full of fun for all ages. :)

Gidget Girl Reading said...

wow that place looks so totally awesome!!!:)

wish we had something that cool near us.

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Oh! Now I'm missing the ocean, even more :)

kewkew said...

Most definitely wish we had something like that around here.
Love these link ups, I learn lots of new things. Did not know about the starfish eyes. And now I need to find out what periwinkles are. I thought periwinkle was a color. Always learning something!! Looks like you had a great time.

Mandy said...

R is looking so big and growny these days.

Ticia said...

I love the touchy-feely tanks in aquariums, takes me back to exploring the tide-pools as a kid in California.

I did not know that about starfish. That's very cool.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

What an awesome hands-on science! How neat that the place wasn't crowded and you could enjoy it. The pictures are great, and I am sure they will remember the facts so much better after actually observing those animals for real.

Anonymous said...

That looks like a great trip. I love places that have a hands on area like that!