Download Ocean Challenge badge - The Scottish Association for Marine Science

SAMS
OCEAN
CHALLENGE
We live on the blue planet. 70% of Earth’s surface is covered
by ocean, and 97% of the space in which life occurs is within
the sea. Adjust your thinking about our world and learn to
appreciate, enjoy and protect the oceans...
Take the plunge, dive in and do the Ocean Challenge badge!
About this badge
The Ocean Challenge badge is aimed at all
sections and consists of four thematic areas:
1. Ocean geography
2. Food from the sea
3. Sounds of the sea
4. Looking after the ocean
For each theme there are a selection of
activities to choose from that vary in difficulty
and include creative activities, games,
experiential learning and science
demonstrations. There are indoor and shore
based activities too. Leaders need not be
marine science experts. Sufficient background
information is provided in this pack.
The badge
To qualify for a badge the girls must complete
one activity from each area. The badge is
based on a design by Asha Neilson from 1st
Tobermory Guide Unit who won the Festival of
the Sea 2012 Ocean Challenge badge
competition.
Suitability
At the end of each activity the symbols of the
different units indicate which age group the activity may be suitable for. Leaders are, however, given full discretion to use activities they
believe will be of benefit to their respective
group.
Background
The Festival of the Sea celebrates the marine
environment of Argyll, aims to inspire children
to explore the marine environment, to care for
the sea and to grow their awareness of
career opportunities in the marine sector and
science. This badge was an idea developed
by students and scientists from the Scottish
Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in
Oban to share their enthusiasm with the girls
in Girlguiding Argyll, where they once belonged and where their daughters are now
happily learning social skills and values.
The Festival was funded by SAMS, the Scottish Government and Argyll and Bute Council.
Visit www.sams.ac.uk if you want to learn
more or would like to invite a scientist to visit
your unit.
The badge can be purchased for £1 from:
Mrs Christine Campbell
Kenmore Cottage
Bonawe; Oban; Argyll PA37 1RH
E: [email protected]
Please enclose an A5 SAE.
Activity 1.1
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
polar Seas: Exploring the Arctic and the Antarctic
CrEATIVE
6 30 minutes
Equipment needed
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poster cardboard (or paper)
Paper
Pencils
Colouring pens or pencils
Scissors
Glue
Background
The remoteness and unusual wildlife of the
Earth’s polar regions have fascinated
scientists and explorers for hundreds of years.
While the Arctic in the north and the Antarctic
in the south might seem very similar, there are
many differences between the two. These
differences affect the marine environment and
the animals that live there.
The Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is an ocean surrounded by
land (see map on resource sheet 1).
It is bordered by the land masses of Canada,
Alaska, Russia, Norway and Greenland. 2-3 m
of sea ice floats on top of the Arctic Ocean,
which can be up to 4,000 m deep in some
places. Because the ocean here is land
locked, the sea ice cannot move about freely,
so Arctic waters tend to stay colder and not all
of the sea ice melts in the summer. Some of
the sea ice remains until the ocean freezes
again the following winter. However, because
of the changing climate, scientists predict that
all of the ice in the Arctic Ocean might melt
during summer in the coming decades, which
might have serious consequences for the animals that live there and also further south. It
will also change the way people will use the
Arctic and might change major shipping lanes.
Antarctica - a continent
In the Antarctic, an ocean known as the
Southern Ocean surrounds a continent called
Antarctica. This means that the sea ice forms
around the land, and is not land locked. Most
of the sea ice that forms in the Antarctic in the
winter melts in the summer. The strongest
winds on Earth are found in the Southern
Ocean, and Antarctica is one of the stormiest
places on the Earth. The Southern Ocean is
very rich in marine life because the water is
very rich in nutrients, which feed tiny marine
plants called phytoplankton, which is turn are
food for tiny animals called zooplankton including krill. Krill is a key species in the
Antarctic food chain as it is eaten by for example by penguins and whales (for food chains
see Theme 2: Food from the Sea, activity 3).
Activity instructions
Cut apart the animal cards on activity sheet 1
and ask each girl to choose one card. Ask
each girl to draw/create the creature on her
card and to read the information. Draw a line
down the middle of a piece of posterboard,
and write ‘Arctic’ at the top of one side, and
‘Antarctic’ at the top of the other side. Ask the
girls to cut out their finished drawings.
One at a time, ask each girl to describe her
animal, and then ask the group to guess
whether it lives in the Arctic or the Antarctic.
Using the key provided, glue each animal on
the correct side of the posterboard, or if it is
found in both, place it along the dividing line.
Once the poster has been made, stand back
and ask everyone why they think the Arctic
and Antarctic are similar, and why they are
different. Why might it be important that we
keep these ecosystems healthy?
resource sheet 1: polar maps
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
MAp OF THE ArCTIC - wITH NOrTH pOLE IN CENTrE
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/polar/arctic.gif
MAp OF ANTArCTICA - wITH SOuTH pOLE IN CENTrE
Activity sheet 1: Life in polar seas
polar Bear
Photo © Alan D. Wilson
Polar bears are among the most powerful of fourlegged animals. They spend most of their lives alone
hunting prey on frozen sea ice. Polar bear numbers are
currently declining, which may be because of climate
change destroying their habitat. Dangerous to people.
ArCTIC
Photo © Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps
walrus
Walruses are the only pinnipeds (true seals, sea lions
& fur seals) with tusks, which can grow to 1m in length
and weigh up to 5.4 kg. They use their tusks for
fighting, and to help them climb from water onto ice.
Their ‘whiskers’ are sense organs.
ArCTIC
Beluga whale
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
Photo © Ansgar Walk
Beluga whales are easily identified by their white colour
and the distinctive shape of their heads. Belugas are
slow swimmers and spend most of their time close to
the edge of pack ice. They feed mainly on fish, but also
eat squid, octopus, crab, and shrimp.
ArCTIC
Narwhal
Photo © Glenn Williams
The tusk of a narwhal is its left front tooth, which can be
up to 9 feet long! In rare cases, male narwhals have
been found with two tusks, though the exact purpose of
these tusks is not known. They ‘suck up’ their prey
largely in the Arctic deep sea. Being air-breathers they
can certainly dive to 1500 m depth.
ArCTIC
Activity sheet 1: Life in polar seas (cont.)
Photo © Hans-Petter Fjeld (CreativeCommons License)
Greenland Shark
Photo © WoRMS for SMEBD
Cod is one of the most widely eaten fish in the UK and
easily recognised by their chin barbel. Cod live in both
shallow and deep waters, where they hunt other fish,
worms, crabs, and lobsters. They are endangered and it
would be better to eat less vulnerable fish species.
ArCTIC
These sharks may grow up to 23 feet long and live at
icy cold depths down to at least 2,200 m. They grow
very slowly. Their flesh is poisonous, but after being
boiled, dried, or rotted underground for several months,
it is considered a delicacy in Greenland and Iceland.
They are slow moving scavengers and predators and
give birth to ca 10 live young. No attacks on humans
have ever been recorded.
ArCTIC
Photo © Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory
Photo © UAF
Atlantic Cod
Basket Star
Basket stars are a type of brittle star and can be recognized by their many-branching arms. They occur in the
deep sea, weigh up to 5 kg, grow to 70 cm in arm
length and can live up to 35 years. Their arms capture
shrimp and other tiny animals drifting in the currents.
ArCTIC & ANTArCTIC
Snow Crab
Snow crabs occur mostly between 70 and 200 m depth
in the Bering Sea, Chukchi Sea, Barents Sea and the
western Atlantic in areas where the seabed is made of
sand or mud. They usually live 5-6 years. Females
carry 6,000 - 140,000 eggs for c 2 years. Snow crabs
are commercially fished.
ArCTIC
Activity sheet 1: Life in polar seas (cont.)
Bowhead whale
Photo © Shapiro, Leo
Bowhead whales are the second heaviest whales, after
blue whales, and each animal can weigh up to 100
tonnes. Bowheads have the largest mouth of any animal, but feeds only on tiny zooplankton. These whales
may live more than 100 years.
ArCTIC
Sperm whale
Photo © NOAA
Sperm whales have the largest brain of any animal on
Earth. Because of their size, these huge creatures must
eat around a ton of fish and squid per day, diving as
deep as 1 km to hunt squid. On these deep dives
whales can hold their breath for up to 90 minutes.
Cosmopolitan including ArCTIC and ANTArCTIC
Emperor penguin
Photo © Dbush
Emperor penguins are the largest of all penguins, and
spend their entire lives in frozen polar conditions. They
have several adaptations to the cold, including densely
packed feathers (the most densely packed of any bird!),
and a thick layer of fat beneath its skin.
ANTArCTIC
Leopard Seal
Photo © cyfer 13
Leopard seals are formidable hunters, using their powerful jaws to prey on fish, penguins, squid, and other
seals. They have long, streamlined bodies and heads
for agility in the water, and a thick layer of fat underneath their skin to insulate them from the cold waters.
ANTArCTIC
Activity sheet 1: Life in polar seas (cont.)
Photo © WoRMS for SMEBD
Southern Elephant Seal
Elephant seals are named for the large, protruding nose
found on the males, which looks like an elephant’s
trunk. Male elephant seals can be twice as long, and
weigh up to four times as much, as females – one of
the largest differences in any mammal.
ANTArCTIC
Krill
patagonian Toothfish
The Patagonian toothfish is also known as the Chilean
sea bass, and is a highly prized fish in Japan and the
United States. It is thought to live up to 50 years, and
can reach lengths of over 2 m.
ANTArCTIC
Photo © UAF
Krill form the base of the polar food chains, and are the
main food for many baleen whales. However, scientists
have recently found that krill populations are declining,
which may be because of rising temperatures affecting
their breeding grounds and nurseries.
ArCTIC & ANTArCTIC
Photo © Feil, Kate
Ice Fish
Photo © Ryan Soma
The ice fish is the only vertebrate that does not have
red pigment (haemoglobin) in its blood. Ice fish blood
contains glycerol, which acts like antifreeze and allows
it to live in frigid polar conditions.
ANTArCTIC
Activity sheet 1: Life in polar seas (cont.)
Colossal Squid
Photo © K.S.Bolstad
Before 2003, only six specimens of the colossal squid
had ever been found, mostly from the stomachs of
sperm whales, which appear to be its main predators.
While it is rarely seen, alive or dead, scientists estimate
that this ocean giant can grow up to 15 m in length.
ANTArCTIC
Jellyfish
Photo © Kevin Raskoff
In warmer parts of the ocean, many jellyfish live in deep
water, where temperatures are colder. However, in polar
regions, the water at the surface is cold all year, so
these jellyfish can live close to the surface.
ArCTIC & ANTArCTIC
Photo © National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association
red King Crab
These crabs are ocean giants and can measure more
than a metre across. They do not normally tolerate the
cold waters of polar seas, but scientists recently found
them there, possibly because of warmer temperatures
at the bottom of the ocean.
ANTArCTIC
Zooplankton
Photo © SAMS
Zooplankton are microscopic ocean animals which feed
on single-celled plant plankton called phytoplankton.
Thousands of different species are part of the
zooplankton, some their entire lives like krill and jellyfish, and others only while they are small, e.g. fish.
ArCTIC & ANTArCTIC
Activity 1.2
Ocean Bingo: exploring ocean geography
GAME
6 20 minutes
Equipment needed
•
•
•
•
•
Activity cards
Handouts
Pens/papers
Stickers or post-it notes
Globe or world map if possible
Background
The world’s seas and oceans cover 70% of
Earth’s surface, and represent some of the
largest ecosystems on the planet. They are
also important for people across the globe,
providing food from fish and shellfish, energy
from petroleum, wind, waves, and tides, as
well as recreation. They are also prime trade
routes.
Across history, the oceans have always been
important for food, transportation and exploration. In the present day, as much as 90% of
the world’s goods are transported by shipping,
and some of the world’s largest cities are located along the coastlines. However, many of
our seas and oceans are under pressure from
human activity, such as pollution, overfishing,
and climate change.
Instructions
In this activity, we will learn what makes each
of the world’s oceans and seas unique by
playing ‘Ocean Bingo’.
For example, the Pacific Ocean is the largest
and deepest of the world’s oceans, followed
by the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean is
also known as ‘the pond’ by North Americans
and Europeans, dividing the two continents
geographically and culturally.
Start by making a copy of resource sheet 2,
cut this into equal strips (vertical or horizontal),
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
one strip for each patrol (so four patrols would
each be in charge of four ocean/ description
answers). Give each patrol a copy of activity
sheet 2 (the bingo sheet). They can start by
filling in the names of the oceans they are in
charge of in the correct boxes. The girls
should write the name of each ocean their
patrol is in charge of on a sticker and stick it
on their foreheads but they should remain in
their patrols and not let the other girls see
which description matches their oceans.
The aim of this activity is for the girls to work
as teams and ask each other questions until
they know which description matches each
ocean. Each ‘turn’ a patrol must agree one of
their number to ask a question of another
patrol to find out which ocean matches which
description. If they guess correctly the patrol
they are asking must tell them. They can then
take the information back to their own patrol
and fill it in on the bingo sheet. There must be
enough space between the patrols so that
they cannot hear other patrols’ answers.
When they think they have correctly identified
all the oceans they can shout ‘BINGO’ and go
to the leaders to have their answers checked.
If they have them all correct they win. If they
have made some wrong guesses the leaders
can tell them how many but not which they
are. The game continues until one patrol correctly identifies all the oceans.
This can be adjusted according to group size.
After the game, topics for further discussion
might include a recap of the differences
between all of the oceans and seas, or a
discussion of some of the human pressures
on the marine environment, and the locations
that the girls think might be most affected.
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
resource sheet 2: Ocean geography information sheets
You need two copies: one for the leaders, the other to be cut into strips for the patrols.
Name: NOrTH SEA
Name: HuDSON BAy
Name: SEA OF JApAN
Name: rED SEA
This European sea is
connected to the Atlantic
Ocean by the English
Channel in the south and
the Norwegian Sea in
the north.
This large body of water
in northeastern Canada
is frozen over for much
of the year and famous
for its polar bears and
beluga whales.
This sea is almost
completely isolated from
the Pacific Ocean by the
Japanese island chain.
It is rich in fish and other
biological products.
This inlet between Africa
and Arabia is one of the
most saline seas in the
world. The Suez Canal
connects it to the
Mediterranean.
Name: SOuTHErN
OCEAN
Name: INDIAN OCEAN
Name: ATLANTIC
Name: BLACK SEA
This ocean surrounds
Antarctica & comprises
the southernmost waters
of the Pacific, Atlantic
and Indian Oceans.
This ocean is the third
largest in the world, and
is bordered by Africa,
Asia, and Australia.
Name: CArIBBEAN
SEA
OCEAN
The second largest
ocean covers 20% of the
surface of Earth and
borders the Americas,
Europe and Africa.
This sea is bordering
Turkey, Georgia, Russia,
Ukraine, Romania and
Bulgaria and is connected to the Mediterranean via the Sea of
Marmara.
Name: SOuTH CHINA
SEA
Name: ANDAMAN SEA
Name: pACIFIC OCEAN
One third of the world’s
shipping goes through
this region on the western side of the Pacific
Ocean.
Coral reefs make this Indian Ocean region popular with tourists. In 2004
an underwater earthquake here caused a
massive tsunami.
Earth’s largest ocean
covers an area that exceeds the total area of
all land on the planet.
Name: GuLF OF
Name: ArCTIC OCEAN
Name: BALTIC SEA
Located to the south
east of the USA, this region is strongly affected
by human activities. The
Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in 2010 was the
largest ever.
This is the smallest and
most confined of the
world’s five oceans, and
is covered year-round by
a drifting ice pack.
This nothern European
sea is less salty than
ocean water because
many rivers add much
freshwater into it.
Name: MEDITErrANEAN SEA
This warm, tropical sea‘s
name is derived from the
Caribs, an American Indian people who inhabited this region.
MEXICO
or BurMA SEA
This sea is connected to
the Atlantic Ocean by the
Strait of Gibraltar. Its
name comes from a
Latin root, and means
‘middle of the world’.
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
Activity sheet 2: world Oceans and Seas Bingo
This European Sea is
connected to the Atlantic
Ocean by the English
Channel in the south and
the Norwegian Sea in
the north.
This large body of water
in northeastern Canada
is frozen over for much
of the year and famous
for its polar bears and
beluga whales.
This sea is almost
completely isolated from
the Pacific Ocean by the
Japanese island chain.
It is rich in fish and other
biological products.
This inlet between Africa
and Arabia is one of the
most saline seas in the
world. The Suez Canal
connects it to the
Mediterranean.
This ocean surrounds
Antarctica & comprises
the southernmost waters
This ocean is the third
largest in the world, and
is bordered by Africa,
The second largest
ocean covers 20% of the
surface of Earth and
borders the Americas,
Europe and Africa.
This sea is bordering
Turkey, Georgia, Russia,
Ukraine, Romania and
Name:
Name:
Name:
This warm, tropical sea‘s
name is derived from the
Caribs, an American
Indian people who
inhabited this region.
One third of the world’s
shipping goes through
this region on the western side of the Pacific
Ocean.
Earth’s largest ocean
covers a larger area than
all of Earth’s land
masses combined.
Name:
Name:
Coral reefs make this Indian Ocean region popular with tourists. In 2004
an underwater earthquake here caused a
massive tsunami.
Located to the south
east of the USA, this region is strongly affected
by human activities. The
Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in 2010 was the
largest ever.
This is the smallest and
most confined of the
world’s five oceans, and
is covered year-round by
a drifting ice pack.
This nothern European
sea is less salty than
ocean water because
many rivers add much
freshwater into it.
Name:
Name:
This sea is connected to
the Atlantic Ocean by the
Strait of Gibraltar. Its
name comes from a
Latin root, and means
‘middle of the world’.
Name:
of the Pacific, Atlantic
and Indian Oceans.
Name:
Name:
Asia, and Australia.
Name:
Name:
Name:
Bulgaria and is connected to the Mediterranean via the Sea of
Marmara.
Name:
Name:
Name:
Activity 1.3
The ocean conveyor belt
SCIENCE DEMONSTrATION
6 30 minutes
Equipment needed
• Large glass dish or fish tank (= ocean)
•
•
•
•
•
Ice cube tray and access to freezer
Kettle or hot tap water
Two glasses (one with handle if possible)
3 food colours (eg red, blue, green)
Table salt
Background on ocean currents
Did you know that water at the surface of the
ocean can be travelling in a different direction
to water in the deep ocean, flowing along the
seabed? There are a number of different
currents moving through the ocean, like great
rivers flowing from one place to the next.
These currents result from differences in the
density of seawater, caused by differences in
temperature and salt concentration of sea
water. They can also be caused by wind
blowing across the sea surface.
In the polar regions of the ocean the water
becomes very cold, which makes it more
dense. Additionally, when sea water freezes
into sea ice, it cannot hold the salt, so the salt
mixes with the water under the ice, making it
even more dense. This cold, salty, dense
water is heavier than the rest of the water and
thus sinks to the bottom of the sea, where it
spreads across the sea floor. The sinking
water is replaced by surface water from
warmer regions, moving towards the poles.
The deep, dense water moves slowly towards
warmer latitudes, where it eventually rises to
the surface, to flow back towards colder regions. This process is sometimes called the
‘ocean conveyor belt’, and one cycle can take
1000 years to complete (resource sheet 3).
preparation (ca 24 hrs before meeting)
In advance of doing this activity, mix a large
amount of food colouring (blue good to mark
cold water) into some water and pour it into an
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
ice cube tray. Put it in the freezer overnight
until frozen solid. Keep the ice cubes frozen
until the time of the activity.
Setting up
1. Fill the glass dish / fish tank with water at
room temperature. Use this container as an
illustration of the global ocean.
2. Dissolve several spoonfuls of table salt in a
glass of water, adding a different colour of
food colouring than that of the ice cubes to
give a dark colour (eg green to illustrate salty
water).
3. Boil the kettle, and in a 2nd glass carefully
mix some hot water with a different food colour
(red works well to illustrate warm water).
Demonstration
Q1: Effect of extra salt on sea water
Carefully pour a small amount of the coloured
salty water down one inside edge of the dish /
fish tank (= ocean) without disturbing the rest
of the water. What happens to the salty water?
(This dense water should sink to the bottom.)
Q2: Effect of icy conditions on sea water
Carefully place a few ice cubes into one side
of the dish / fish tank (=ocean) and let them
melt. Where does the melting coloured water
go? Why? Where on the map/globe do you
think a similar thing might happen?
(Again, the dense water should sink).
Q3: Effect of warm conditions on sea water
Carefully pour some hot coloured water down
one inside edge of the dish / fish tank (=
ocean). What happens to the hot water?
Where do you think this would happen in the
ocean? (Answer: This less dense water should
spread across the surface).
Along with the wind, these differences in
temperature and salinity drive the ocean
conveyor belt. While cold, salty water is more
dense, and sinks in the ocean, glaciers and
ice bergs are made of fresh water, so what
happens when this ice melts?
resource Sheet 3: Global ocean circulation
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
Image created by Dr Clare Johnson of SAMS
1. OCEAN GEOGrApHy
Activity 1.4
Illustrating the oceans
CrEATIVE
6 1 hour + research time
Equipment needed
• 4 large sheets of poster paper (1 per patrol)
• pencils
• paints and brushes for each patrol (or
colouring pens, pencils or crayons)
• Computer with internet conection
• Reference library books on the oceans
Activity instructions
For this activity the girls should work in their
patrols. Give each patrol the name of an
ocean. They should use books and computers
to research the different life forms which live at
different depths in their ocean, from what lives
in the deep-ocean seabed, through the
different plankton, invertebrates, fish and
mammals that swim in the water to the
seaweeds, corals, sea grasses etc that may
grow in the coastal areas, and then the
people and seabirds that affect the sea from
the surface.
Alternatively the leaders could just tell the girls
about the life at different levels of their ocean
or invite a marine biologist to do so. Also a
visit to an aquarium may be used to acquire
the necessary information.
Then give each group of girls a large sheet of
poster paper and paints. Groups should make
a poster of a cross-section of their allocated
ocean, painting the different life-forms that
occur at different depth levels.
Further activity
To extend this activity each patrol could then
make a short presentation to the rest of the
group or even their parents on what they
learnt about their ocean using their poster!
Activity 2.1
what use is seaweed?
GAME
6 45 minutes + travel
Background
Most people never think about seaweed and
the role it plays in our world. Most critical to us
is that it contributes to making oxygen. Only
half the oxygen we breathe is made by land
plants, the other half is produced by algae,
both the tiny floating plant plankton and the
humble seaweeds. Without them, life on our
planet would therefore not be the same and
we could not exist.
It is also an important food source. Many animals live off and on it. People have been eating seaweed since Neolithic times, particularly
in Scotland, Ireland and Asia.
There are three kinds of seaweed
• Green seaweeds like sea lettuce
• Red seaweeds such as dulse
• Brown seaweeds include kelp and wracks
Greens contain the yellow-orange pigment
BETA CAROTENE that is widely used for food
colouring. Some land plants also contain it.
Reds contain CARAGEENAN which is used to
gel foods together, e.g. ice cream.
Brown seaweeds are a source for ALGINATES
that help oil and water mix into smooth liquids.
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
Seaweed supermarket sweep
Equipment needed per team
• Supermarket sweep worksheet (next page)
• Pen
• Clipboard
Take a trip to a local supermarket to discover
which everyday foods contain seaweed or its
derivatives. Split the girls into teams and
provide each team with the listed equipment.
Only the leader has the answer sheet.
Ask the teams to find each listed product and
using the ingredients on the packaging to
identify which kind of seaweed is in each item.
The words to look for are beta carotene,
carrageenan and alginate. The teams should
note the seaweed derivative next to each
product and what seaweed group this comes
from. One of the products doesn’t contain any
seaweed derivative, but which one?
Two products contain actual seaweed - to be
noted as ‘natural’.
The first team to return with a correctly completed sheet wins.
• Alternatively the leader can purchase the
items and the packets be examined in the hall
• Consider informing shops of your visit.
• Ensure the girls don’t run in the aisles and
take care to minimise disturbance to others.
Seaweed supermarket sweep
ACTIVITy CArD
Team name: ___________________________________________________________
Instructions
Find as many of the listed food and health products as you can.
Look at the ingredients to identify which seaweed derivative is in each item. Search for the
words beta carotene (from green algae), carrageenan (red seaweed derivative) and alginate
(from large brown seaweeds). Write the derivative and originating seaweed next to each item.
Two of the listed items are natural seaweed product, to be marked a ‘natural’ in the list.
Challenge: One of the listed products contains no seaweed. Write ‘odd one out’ next to it.
Seaweed supermarket sweep: Answer sheet
Activity 2.2
Seaweed art CrEATIVE ACTIVITy
6 30 minutes + optional trip to beach
If your pack lives near the sea, visit a beach
and collect small amounts of seaweed of each
colour (red, brown or green). Make sure you
minimise the number of attached small animals you bring home... Make sure you go
when the tide is quite low or there will be little
to collect. Leaders may collect seaweed
ahead of a meeting and only do the art activity.
Equipment needed
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gloves
Bucket of seawater to keep seaweed in
A seaweed identification book
Cartridge paper
Shallow trays with water
Tweezers
Once you have collected your seaweed, put it
in the bucket of seawater to keep it fresh.
See if you can identify the seaweeds you have
found using the identification guide.
If the weather is fine you can carry on and do
the next part of the activity outside, otherwise
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
return indoors to your guide hut.
Make a picture using seaweed: to do this put
some seawater in a shallow tray. You might
need several trays depending on the size of
your pack.
Put a piece of cartridge paper in the tray of
water. Pick up a piece of seaweed with your
tweezers. Place it carefully on the paper. You
can move the fronds of the seaweed around
gently to make a nice shape. Lift the piece of
paper with the seaweed out of the tray and
leave to dry. Your seaweed will stick to the
paper and produce a beautiful picture.
If you remain on the shore you could also
make a seaweed ‘picture gallery’ in the sand.
Take pieces of seaweed of different colours
and types and arrange them to make your
own seaweed ‘paintings’. Add shells, driftwood
or stones.
Activity 2.3
Marine food chain: who eats who?
CrAFT (week 1) and GAME (week 2)
Background
This two-week activity provides a fun and
active way of finding out about different
creatures living in the sea and who eats
who in the marine food chain!
All living things need energy to live and grow.
The order of how this energy is transferred
between different organisms is called a food
chain. In reality the situation is complex as
organisms usually eat many things and
change diets as they grow, giving rise to food
webs. If one part of the web is removed, it can
affect the wider marine life system.
wEEK 1: T-SHIrT DECOrATION
6 30 minutes
Equipment needed
• 10 (-25) white T shirts
• Fabric paints
• Picture resources
Give each girl/small team a card with one of
the words below. Using the fabric paints they
should draw or paint a representation of this
entity onto a white T-shirt. They could use
pictures from books or the internet to give
them design ideas. You could ask the girls
to find out at home about their word...
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The sun (1)
Phytoplankton (plant plankton) (8)
Zooplankton (animal plankton) (4)
Jellyfish (2)
Sand eel (small fish) (3)
Atlantic cod (larger fish) (2)
Common skate (shark family) (1)
Seal (1)
Blue whale (1)
Puffin (1)
Fisherman (1)
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
wEEK 2: FOOD CHAIN GAME
6 15 - 20 mins (depending on group size)
Equipment needed
• Decorated T-shirts from week 1
• Ball of string
The leader leads this game. Explain briefly
what a food chain is and tell the girls they are
going to play a game to illustrate this. You will
ask questions, and build a chain of girls depending on their answers. You should in the
end have a food ‘web’ to show the girls.
Question: Where does the energy in the
ocean food chain come from?
Answer: the sun provides the energy for photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn
carbon dioxide and water into plant material
and oxygen.
Pick a girl to put on the sun T-shirt and stand
her in the centre. (This could be the girl who
decorated the sun T-shirt or the one who knew
the answer).
Question: What sea creature ‘eats’ sunlight?
Answer: Seaweed and phytoplankton (tiny
floating algae).
Pick a girl to be phytoplankton and wear the Tshirt. If you have a large unit, you could have
several phytoplankton girls... They are to stand
at a small distance from the sun, for example
in a circle.
Question: What feeds on phytoplankton?
Answer: Zooplankton, i.e. the smallest free
floating marine animals.
Choose one or more girl to put on a zooplankton T-shirt. As they eat phytoplankton, let them
hold on to the/a phytoplankton girl e.g. by
placing a hand on her shoulder.
Marine food chain: who eats who continued
Question: What eats zooplankton?
Answer: Now it becomes variable as many
things eat zooplankton, at least during some
periods of their life. So you can ask several
times ‘what else eats zooplankton’ and get
girls to put on the appropriate shirts and hold
on to the/a zooplankton girl.
• sand eel, jellyfish, blue whale; fishermen
(there is a big krill fishery)
Question: What eats sand eels?
Answer: Puffins; Atlantic cod; Fishermen
Question: What eats jellyfish?
Answer: Jellyfish! Some larger fish (turtles
too!)
Question: What eats blue whales?
Answer: Fishermen. Blue whale calves can
be eaten by killer whales and large sharks.
The cookiecutter shark may take bites out of
small blue whales without killing them.
Question: What eats puffins?
Answer: Whatever can catch them eg larger
seabirds like large gulls and skuas, and land
roamers such as otters, mink and terrestrial
predators. Nothing on our list. They are here
on of the ‘top predators’
Question: What eats Atlantic cod?
Answer: Seals; Common Skate; Fishermen
Question: What eats common skate?
Answer: Fishermen (but skate are now protected in the EU) and large sharks
Question: What eats seals?
Answer: Killer whales, sharks, polar bears
and fishermen (esp Inuit hunters)
Question: what eats fishermen?
Answer: point out that sewage may add
plankton fertiliser??
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
Further background notes
Plankton
Plankton means wanderer or drifter because
the tiny floating creatures, even if they can
swim, are at the mercy of currents as to where
they move to. Phytoplankton and bacteria
form the base of the marine food chain, all
higher life depends on them. Some have a tail
called a flagellum that they beat like a whip to
swim to avoid predators and stay in the light.
Some have hard outer shells made of glass or
other material for protection. Some have glass
spines that reduce the speed with which they
sink and thus help them float in the light surface layer.
Zooplankton
Nearly every type of marine animal, from
worms to crabs and fish, has a version of itself
which goes through a zooplankton stage in
life. Many are part of it during early life stages
when they are eggs or larvae. Zooplankton
vary in size from a millimetre to the size of a
dinner plate. They live everywhere in the sea
but only those living in the surface layers eat
fresh phytoplankton. Those in deeper water,
where phytoplankton cannot live, must live off
tiny particles that often ‘rain’ down from above.
Below is information on the creatures that eat
plankton.
Sand eel
Sand eels live on sandy shores and bury
themselves 25-30 cm into the sand to hide
from predators and during winter. They swim
in large shoals with their heads down to dart
into sand when danger arrives. They feed on
zooplankton while the largest ones may also
take seabed worms, small crustaceans and
very small fish. They are a preferred prey fish
of puffins and other auks, kittiwakes, and
larger fish. A small sand eel fishery exists off
the west coast and in Shetland. People eat
Marine food chain: who eats who continued
them and use them for animal feed and to
make into fertiliser.
Jellyfish
Most jellyfish are carnivorous and catch prey
passively with their tentacles as drift nets,
stunning prey with their poisonous stinging
cells that remain fully functional even if the jellyfish itself is dead. Prey include plankton,
crustaceans, fish eggs, small fish and also
other jellyfish. They are eaten by other jellyfish, larger fish like salmon, sharks and sea
turtles. In some countries like Japan people
also eat jellyfish, usually after being dried.
In Argyll the moon jellyfish is the most common, recognisable by four pink rings (actually
gonads) that mark the otherwise transparent
gelatinous body. They have only a mild sting
for humans. The other more unpleasant local
species is the lion’s mane jellyfish. It is deep
red, with a bell diameter of up of 2m and tentacles up to 37 m long (actually the largest
known species of jellyfish) and a very painful
sting. It occurs in a Sherlock Holmes short
story!
Blue whale
The largest animal that ever lived, measuring
up to 33m long (3 buses end to end!) and
weighing upwards of 200 tons. To grow to this
size they filter most days up to 4 tons of krill
(small shrimplike creatures) and other plankton and small animals from the water: they
gulp seawater into their big mouths and
throats, and with their massive tongues force
the water out through a curtain of baleen that
hang down from their upper jaws. The krill are
trapped by the baleen - made of fingernail-like
material - and swallowed. They often spend
their summers feeding in polar waters teeming
with krill and then migrate to warmer waters
where they give birth to their calves.
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
Fishermen
People have become the top predator not only
of land creatures but also of sea life. We have
been fishing out so many fish, that many fish
stocks are now critically low and many fisheries have completely crashed. On the west
coast we used to land herring and many other
fish while now most fishing is for scallops,
shrimp and crabs. People don’t only hunt for
fish, we also used to kill whales - so much so
that many whale species are highly in danger
of going extinct. Many animals we don’t mean
to kill because we have no use of them are accidentally killed when we fish, when our ships
collide with them, when our pollution makes
them ill or when we change the climate so
they can no longer live where they used to.
Puffins
Although puffins do not live in/on the ocean
like some other sea birds, they do get their
food from the marine food chain. Instead of hinged jaws like ours, puffins
can dislocate their jaws like snakes. This
means the top and bottom part of their bills remain flat and they can collect many fish/sand
eels in one go. Their diet consists of sand
eels, herring, hake and capelin. The most ever
recorded was 60 sand eels in one beak – not
bad for a small bird! Puffins are predated upon
by great black-backed gulls and people.
Atlantic cod
This fish can grow to 2 m long and weigh
nearly 100 kg if it reaches the 25 years it can
live for. When the fertilised cod eggs hatch
into baby cod they first live as part of the zooplankton. As they grow they first feed on krill
and other large zooplankton and small fish. As
adults they live of a very diverse diet that includes smaller fish and invertebrates like
shrimp and crabs.
The Atlantic cod is a fish much enjoyed by
seals and by people.
Marine food chain: who eats who continued
Seals
These marine mammals feed largely on fish of
most types and sizes including cod. They also
like squid and occasionally take shrimps,
crabs, molluscs and seaweed! Rarely they can
also be seen to kill and eat seabirds. They
catch their prey with their mouths and rip it
into chunks. In Argyll we have two types of
seals: common seals and the larger grey
seals. In many places seals are top predators
without natural predators. Their main enemies
are people who shoot them for their fur or as
pest control where seals are thought to break
into fishfarms or to compete with local fishermen. In Scotland they are protected and may
only be shot in special circumstances. Orcas
also feed on seals, and may have contributed
to their decline in the Northern Isles (in particular Orkney).
Explore the food web
6 5 - 10 minutes
Once all the girls are holding on to each other
with the sun in the centre you can point out
that the food chain isn’t a neat chain but quite
complex.
Get the girls to stand in a circle all being a
different marine creature with the sun in the
middle. Now throw a ball of string/wool to the
first girl who should be high up in the food
chain (fisherman, salmon, skate, seal). She
2. FOOD FrOM THE SEA
Common skate
This ‘flat’ member of the shark family - that
can grow to more than 2.5 m long - feeds opportunistically on crustaceans, worms and
molluscs. They also feed on fish of various
sizes, dead or alive! They largely hunt on the
seabed and can grow up to 50-100 years old.
They are protected and it is illegal to land
them in the EU. Like all sharks, the skeleton of
the skate is made of cartilage rather than
bone. Skates are at times eaten by larger
sharks.
shouts out what kind of creature she is and
wants to eat, e.g. “I am a seal and I eat cod”.
She then, while holding on to the end of the
string, throws the ball to the cod girl. The cod
girl holds on to the string and shouts out what
she eats and throws the ball of string on to
her prey. Eventually it ends with a phytoplankton girl and then the sun. Then reverse the
dynamic and go up the foodchain, preferably
another path. All girls should hold at least on
to the string in one place. Eventually a food
web is created. See what happens if one
component disappears...
Activity 3.1
3. SOuNDS OF THE SEA
Meet the pop Star of the Sea: the Humpback whale
Humpback whales (Scientific name: Megaptera novaeangliae) are great singers and the pop stars of the sea..
Photo courtesy of SAMS UHI student Dominique Weilermann.
EXpErIENTIAL LEArNING
6 15 minutes
If you have ever heard a whale song, it will
most likely have been a recording of the
humpback whale’s sounds. Although they
do not sing with words, they use different
sounds to communicate with other humpbacks. Scientists think that the male humpback’s song ranges from a frequency of
around 30 – 8,000 Hz, which is the biggest
range of any mammal on Earth.
Humpbacks live in a massive space in the
sea and need to communicate over vast
distances, without the benefit of a mobile
phone. So they produce sounds that travel
miles and miles throughout the water, and
they can hear rextremely well.
Humpbacks have a song for every
occasion, be it hunting, playing or
courting...
Equipment needed
• Music player (CD player, iPod or similar)
• Whale song music (can be downloaded)
• Blue fabric / large dark blanket
part 1: Just listen
Some whales and dolphins travel in groups
called pods. Sort the girls into pods and
ask them to close their eyes. Then turn on
the music so that the girls experience the
underwater sounds made by whales.
part 2: Living under the sea surface
Give the ‘pods’ dark blankets or sheets of
material as the representation of the sea
surface. Get them to make waves and get
them to think about what it would be like to
be a whale and live underwater in the sea.
part 3: Compare with other sounds
Listen again to the whale songs and ask
the children to describe what the noises
sound like and compare it to other animal
noises or musical instruments...
part 4: Do you need words to talk?
Sitting in a circle on the floor under the
blanket, ask the girls if they can imagine
how humpbacks might communicate about
things without the use of words. Get them
to make sounds that tell the others a) to be
their friend (eg sounds of kisses or love
song melodies), b) to hunt with them for
prey (eg jaws music theme) or c) to warn
them of dangers (eg siren).
Activity 3.2
Sea Mammals and Sound
SCIENCE DEMONSTrATION
6 20 minutes
3. SOuNDS OF THE SEA
Q3) Using the image below, explain why
sound travels faster in seawater than in air.
Equipment needed
• Tuning fork
• Container of water
Sound travels differently through water than it
does in air. The activities in this session use a
tuning fork to explore the differences between
sounds that travel through air, solids and water
(borrow one from a musician / music teacher).
Activity 1: First hold a tuning fork by the
handle and hit it against a solid surface.
Then put the prongs into a pan of water.
Q1) What is happening and why?
Ripples appear in the water when the tuning
fork’s vibrations are transferred into the water.
These ripples are the physical manifestations
of sound waves which travel from the solid
tuning fork to the liquid water.
Molecules - the smallest units of any material are bumping into each other causing
vibrations. As one molecule touches another,
the vibration is passed to that molecule. Once
this energy has been transferred, the original
molecule will then return to a normal state thus
eventually becoming still until more energy is
passed through it from another source.
The speed of sound in air is 340 metres per
second. In the much denser seawater sound
can travel at 1600 metres per second.
Q2) Compared to air, how much faster does
sound travel through seawater?
Nearly five times faster!
Calculation: 1600 / 340 = 4.7
The image shows that in air the molecules are
less tightly packed than in liquid water. Water
is thus said to be ‘denser’ than air.
In air molecules don’t bump into each other as
frequently, so that the vibrations don’t spread
so fast either. In liquid water, on the other
hand, molecules are more in touch with each
other and thus pass vibrations from one to the
other faster.
In solid materials, which are even more
densely packed with molecules, sounds can
travel even faster. This brings us to how
whales and dolphins use and process sound
underwater.
Activity 2: Hit the tuning fork against a
solid object and place it next to your ear.
You can hear the vibrations that have travelled
through the air and into your ear.
Q4) Discuss whether travelling through your
jawbone may alter the sounds emitted from
the tuning fork?
Activity continues on next page
Sea Mammals and Sound continued
Activity 3: Hit the tuning fork against
something solid and then place the end of
the handle against your lower jaw.
Q5) What sensation do you hear or feel?
The noise should be louder and you will feel
the vibrations.
Q6) Why does this happen?
The solid lower jaw and soft tissues transfer
the sound faster to your ear than air because
your body is more dense. The density also
helps sounds to travel further than in air.
3. SOuNDS OF THE SEA
Q7) How can this help whales to get around in
the murky and dark waters of the sea?
Differently to people, whales and dolphins
don’t rely much on what they see but use
sound to find their way. As sound travels
faster and further in the sea than in air, they
can also communicate with each other by
sound over remarkable distances.
Activity 3.3
Sound orienteering and echolocation
EXpErIENTIAL LEArNING
6 30 minutes
Equipment needed
• A blindfold
• An item to make noise with (i.e. keys)
• Music player (CD player, radio, iPod)
Marine mammals rely heavily on sound for
many aspects of life. In activities 1-3, the girls
explore using sound to find their way around,
just like a toothed whale or dolphin. This is
appropriate for Rainbows and Brownies.
For Guides activity 4 offers an introduction to
echolocation, used by land animals like bats
and in the sea by dolphins to manoeuvre and
communicate. An animal calls and then listens
out for echos that reflect from objects.
Depending on the distance, size and consistency of the objects, the echo changes, so that
the animal knows what is out there based on
the echos. Some blind people have learned to
find their way using clicks and thus use a
similar techniques as dolpins to get around.
part 1: Blind orienteering
Place the blindfold over a girl’s eyes whilst she
is sitting on the floor in a quiet room. Ensure
that her ears are not covered. A partner should
produce different noises in different parts of
the room one at a time. Can she identify what
makes the noises?
She should then get up and try to get to her
partner, only putting her hands out to touch
them when she thinks they are very near.
Make sure nothing is in her way she could trip
over. Now switch over the roles. All girls
should have a shot at orienteering by sound.
part 2: Living in a noisy place
One girl sits in the middle of the room blindfolded with the other girls standing near the
walls all around the hall. The leader should
3. SOuNDS OF THE SEA
turn on the music quite quietly and point to
one of the girls who then tells the group their
favourite food at normal speaking volume.
The leader then turns the music off and the
blindfolded girl repeats what she heard to be
the favourite food. Could she also recognise
from the voice who was speaking?
Repeat the exercise at increasing volumes
with other girls revealing their favourite foods
again at normal speaking volume. At what volume can the girl no longer clearly make out
what was said. Is this also the volume when
she no longer recognises the speaker?
part 3: Discuss the results
How was it for the girls to move around by
sound? Was it as easy as by using vision?
May there be advantages to using sound over
using vision? (You can hear from all directions
but you don’t see behind yourself!). How easy
is it to listen in a noisy environment? What do
the girls think could make the sea a noisy environment? (Noise pollution is a really big
problem for many marine mammals!)
part 4: Echolocation
One girl is blindfolded and her partner leads
her safely to another room (ideally she does
not know what room she is taken to). Position
the girl in the middle of the room.
Ask the girl to clap her hands loudly and to
guess the size of the room she is in based on
the echo from the walls.
Then ask her to keep clapping and listening
while she walks forward towards a wall. Does
the sound she receives from the reflected
claps help her determine when she should
stop walking and therefore know where the
walls are?
Clue: The sound will return to her the faster,
the closer she gets to the wall.
Activity 3.4
3. SOuNDS OF THE SEA
Sea shell music: making wind chimes from sea shells
CrEATIVE ACTIVITy
6 30 minutes + shell-collecting time
Equipment needed
• Identification guide for sea shells
• Variety of shells
• Hammer and nail to made holes
• Twine
• Super glue
(1) Visit a sandy sea shore and collect empty
seashells from the strandline. Try to get at
least one large one, six medium sized ones
and five small ones. Only take shells that have
no animals living in or on them. Make sure not
to disturb the shore unnecessarily. If you don’t
live near the sea or if the weather is too bad,
you could make model shells using art materials or bring in shells collected on holidays.
If doing this activity with older girls, it may be
appropriate to try to identify the shells and find
out about the animals that made and once
lived inside the shells.
(2) Back inside the hall the girls should try to
make holes into each of the smaller shells
using a nail and hammer. Make sure they are
properly supervised when using this
equipment.
(3) Make five holes in the largest shell: the
outside of the shell should have four holes and
one hole should be made in the middle. If you
have no large shell, a round piece of wood
may be used as a substitute.
(4) Put a length of twine into each of the holes
in this shell.
(5) Secure the twine with superglue at the top
to make sure it doesn’t fall through (alternatively tie it in a knot to prevent the twine from
slipping through the holes in the shell).
(6) Thread the ends of
each twine through the
holes in the smaller
shells. You can thread as
many shells onto the
twine as you like.
(7) Use the glue (or knots
at the bottom) to keep
the smaller shells in
place.
(8) Now use the glue to
attach a piece of twine to
the top of the largest
shell.
(9) Wait for the glue to
set.
(10) Hang the seashell
wind chime by the top piece of twine and listen
to the music it creates.
4. LOOKING AFTEr THE OCEAN
Activity 4.1
Effects of pollution
DISCuSSION & ACTIVITy
6 30 minutes + discussion time
Equipment needed
•
•
•
•
•
Printable pollution cards
Large clear mixing bowl e.g. pyrex
Kitchen roll for clearing up excess water
Pollution objects (see list below)
Pollution Presentation (for leader)
pollution Objects
• Beach litter (collected beforehand & divided
into two lots)
Background
This workshop explores the sources of marine
pollution and the problems they cause.
Oceans are a major source of food, providing
seafood for billions of people. They also carry
90% of the world’s trade as most goods are
transported around the globe using container
ships. Pollution incidents - especially from
large boats - are a daily occurrence!
The girls will learn how pollution comes from
rivers, clouds and the sea. They will look at
the three main types of pollution: biological,
chemical and physical.
• 4 small clear bottles filled with oil & labelled:
1. Industry
2. Drilling
3. Cars
4. Boats
• small clear bottles with different coloured
water (food dyes) & labelled:
1. Nitrogen (Yellow)
2. Phosphorus (Blue)
3. Pesticides (Red)
4. Plankton (Green)
5. Boat chemicals (paints) (Purple)
6. Radioactive (clear)
7. Acid rain (clear)
• other items to represent pollution sources:
1. Paper waste (kitchen roll)
2. Invasive species (alien toys)
3. Heavy metals (Toys cars &
aluminium (foil) balls)
4. Poo (Brown playdough/ plasticine)
Fill the bowl with 1/3 tap water.
As the girls come up, get them to add the item
that corresponds to their card.
N.B: Pour out the coloured waters, but keep
the oil in the bottles so you can re-use it
without wasting it!
Activity Instructions
Set out your bowl of water, box of pollution
objects and kitchen roll.
Activity 4.1
Effects of pollution continued
Start with a general discussion to set the
scene. Ask the girls to use one word to describe our oceans: terrifying / amazing /
unique / beautiful / fun / survival.
playing the Game
There are 3 types of pollution:
• Biological: from microbes, plants or animals
• Chemical: e.g. fertilisers, pesticides
• Physical: sound, litter, heat ...
1. Attach the three pollution cards to a board
or the wall (blue tack, pins or tape)
2. Distribute the rest of the cards amongst the
guides.
3. Ask how the girls think most of our pollution
arrives in the ocean?
4. Identify the girls with the river, cloud and
sea cards: These are the main transporters
of pollution to our seas and oceans.
5. Put these three cards up under the
chemical/biological/physical categories in no
specific order.
6. Ask each girl to come up in turn and explain
what is on her card to the rest of the group.
7. They allow the girl to take the appropriate
‘pollution’ object and throw it into the tank.
For example, the girl with the ‘tractor’ card
throws in a bottle of oil.
8. Then get the girl to attach her card to the
wall under either biological, chemical or
physical pollution (see attached KEY).
The girls will enjoy seeing the colour of the
water changing, and should be shocked at
how much rubbish enters our seas.
9. At the end of the game ask if there are any
cards left? YES – there will be two:•
plants: actually help reduce pollution
by processing atmospheric chemicals –
sometimes at a cost to the plants and
trees themselves as they can die
through poisoning.
•
Bicycle: we all need to get on one of
these as much as possible to help
reduce pollutants from cars/buses and
trains & planes…..if you can cycle that
far!
Further discussion: How can we reduce
the damage caused by pollution?
Political policy: better laws on pollution
Changing industry: we must change our
energy sources (renewables) and manage our
land more efficiently.
Scientific investigations: scientists can help
produce oil degrading products to help clean
up oil spills. Scientific observations can help
monitor pollution levels.
US!!! The public: we can put our rubbish in the
bin, help with beach cleans and travel
together, by public transport or by bicycle.
Activity 4.1
Effects of pollution continued
Activity 4.2
Beach clean
OuTDOOr ACTIVITy
6 1 hour
Equipment needed
• Bin liners
• Rubber gloves
• Suitable footwear
The whole unit can undertake this activity
together. It can be combined with the 4.3
beach litter art activity.
Introduction to marine litter
Make the girls think about why people worry
about litter in the sea and on the beach.
Instructions on how to clean a beach
• If possible go to the beach during low tide. •
• Avoid bird breeding season if the beach is
used by ground-breeding birds.
• Don’t disturb the beach environment: If you
turn over stones, turn them back.
Remember to be respectful to marine life.
4. LOOKING AFTEr THE OCEAN
• You might want to invite a group with a
•
•
•
•
beach cleaning remit to help you, eg by
providing bags, gloves and litter-picking
devices (In Argyll contact the GRAB Trust
www.grab.org.uk or T: 01546 600 165)
Split into groups, each with a bin bag.
All girls should wear rubber gloves.
Collect EITHER all rubbish OR only
recyclable goods.
Ensure you do not include any living
animals that may be attached to some of the
rubbish.
reflection time afterwards - Discuss
1. What types of rubbish did you find?
2. Where might the rubbish have originated?
3. What effects may rubbish have on different
types of marine life?
4. How could we reduce beach litter?
Activity 4.3
BEACH LITTEr ArT
ArT and CrAFT
6 1 hour + litter gathering time
Equipment needed
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cardboard boxes
Rubber gloves
Suitable footwear for weather
Paper and/or card
Pens / poster paints etc
PVA glue
Scissors
The whole unit can join together for this
activity. This activity can be done in
combination with activity 4.2 beach clean.
If you do not live close to a beach, you could
go straight to step 2 and use paper cutouts
and other art materials that are related to
beach life that the leader prepares or buys.
preparation
Ensure you visit a beach at low water: check
this out using http://easytide.ukho.gov.uk/
4. LOOKING AFTEr THE OCEAN
Step 1: Collect
Visit a safe beach and collect interesting items
from the shoreline including shells, stones,
crab claws, dried seaweeds, mermaids
purses, and beach litter artifacts washed up
on the beach. Put them in a cardboard box to
take back to the hall where you meet unless
the weather is so fantastic that you want to
stay outside for the creative activity.
Step 2: Artwork
Use the collected beach items for each girl to
create a mosaic, picture, picture frame or card
using the collected beach items. When all are
completed, create a mini gallery to display all
artwork.
Step 3: Group discussion
• What types of litter items did we collect from
the beach?
• How and from where did these items reach
our beach?
• What do you think about or feel when you
see beach litter art?
Activity 4.4
4. LOOKING AFTEr THE OCEAN
write and present a diary entry or poem about a sea user
CrEATIVE wrITING 6 30 mins + research time
Equipment needed
• Pen
• Paper
• Computer with internet connection
This activity encourages the girls to think
about how people use the sea and to reflect
on the cultural heritage of coastal communities
and responsible behaviour towards the natural
environment.
Instructions
Start by bringing the girls together and leading
a discussion on the kinds of people who use
the sea around the world. Get the girls to
name such people, e.g. a fisherman (different
in rural India from Aberdeen), diver, fish
farmer, sailor, merchant seaman, ferryman,
harbour master, oil worker, beach-comber,
tourist (swimmer), life guard on popular city
beach, coastguard, lifeboat crew, kayaker,
explorer, marine scientist or seaside artist.
Ask the girls how these different people use
the seas and what their lifes and experiences
might be like.
Now ask them to select one user-of-the-sea
and to write either a “day-in-the-life of this
chosen person” or a poem about their life or
their perception of the sea.
They can use the computer to reseach their
person or just use their imaginations and the
information from the discussion.
At the end, the girls should each read out their
entry or poem to the group. You could even
get them to perform these at a marine
fundraising evening - where you could also
exhibit other products from doing this badge.
This could eg be in aid of the RNLI or the
Marine Conservation Society.