This week’s blog post is the exciting announcement of my new book (or rather workbook) Marine Science for Kids (ages 5+). I’ve spent the last 6 months buried deep in a metaphorical writing pile at my desk and as a result, I have finally finished ‘workbook 1’. If you have young children keen to learn about the oceans then I think this will be a great place to start.
Ages 5+ is a little too young to be sitting reading a textbook on marine biology but there is still plenty of learning that can be done! Marine Science for Kids Workbook 1 is intended to be the spine of a curriculum which can be expanded on by educators.
What’s in this post?
The workbooks content
This is a secular science workbook. It’s 55 pages long and it has three units;
Oceanography
Oceanography is split into three parts; Wonderful Oceans, Ocean Features and Ocean Exploring. Wonderful Oceans introduces the concept of one ocean, the five ocean basins and some new ocean vocabulary. Ocean Features explains what an ocean feature is and compares them to common landforms. Ocean Exploring describes some ways we might explore through work and hobbies and touches on what we might find.
Marine Biology
Marine Biology, the largest unit, is also split into three parts; Plants and Plant-Like, Ocean Animals and Ocean Habitats. Ocean plants are a difficult subject to teach. The only ‘true plants’ in the oceans are seagrasses but that would be a very short section! I’ve also included the seaweeds and phytoplankton here due to their similarities with plants. I hate to admit it, but ocean animals are probably what most of the kids are here for. The ocean animals section covers the animal basics – their groups and anatomy whilst touching on the idea of adaptations.
Ocean habitats focuses on the idea that animals each have their own habitats where they live. There’s a larger ‘ocean ecosystems’ section in Workbook 2 which is aimed at children ages 7+ and will be out soon.
Oceans and Us
Probably the most important part of the workbook – linking the oceans back to ourselves. A challenging but important idea for young kids to grapple with. There are two sections in this unit; Ocean Conservation and Ocean History. Ocean conservation covers your nearest Marine Protected Area (MPA) and the idea of man-made vs natural items in the sea. Whilst ocean history takes a fun look at holidays to the seaside over time – living memory and beyond living memory.
How to use the workbook
Obviously, you can use the workbook however you wish. It is currently only available from amazon as a workbook to order. In the future, I hope to make it available to purchase as a digital download so it can be printed at home for more flexibility. [UPDATE: workbook is now available as a digital download from my Etsy shop]
There are tick boxes by every section so children can tick (or shade in) a square when they’ve finished a bit of the workbook. This should allow you to easily see any progress which has been made. 55 pages are quite a lot of work so children might want to complete the workbook over a longer time.
Elements of the workbook are compatible with commonly taught subjects such as geography (oceanography unit), history (the ocean history section) and science (the marine biology unit). It could be an idea to wait until after these have been covered in lessons and use these in an ocean-themed study unit or to include them at a time which suits your children’s learning as you go along. Any ideas on how this works best for you please let me know!
Helpful Resources
I have a list of resources and videos in the learning zone. If you would like an in-depth resource for developing a full-ocean curriculum for all ages then I would recommend Ocean Literacy, but it is written with science educators in mind, and if you’re focusing on a ‘study unit’ style of learning then I would recommend World Ocean Day for Schools. The resources
are broken down by unit and hopefully, they can help you build wider lessons to complement the workbook.
**As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, this does not cost the buyer anything.
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