Ways You Can Bring the Ocean Home – No Matter Where You Are!
by Holly Myer
Ocean Friends Forever! Splash and Bubbles fans across the country have been celebrating World Oceans Day all month long!
Aquariums and PBS stations all over the United States have hosted parties, screenings, and special events for local fans to get together. When visiting these events, families got a chance to see real ocean creatures and gather with fellow Reeftown Rangers to celebrate the wonder of our ocean and learn about the incredible life forms that call the sea their home.
In La Jolla, California, our friends at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, along with the team at KPBS San Diego, put on a great day of activities, with art projects using environment-friendly materials, ocean expert Q & A sessions, and photo opportunities with Splash and Bubbles themselves. Visitors even got to tour an amazing giant “kelp forest” made entirely out of recycled yoga mats! Wow!
This art installation, created by local ocean artist Teresa Espaniola, shows us how we can find creative ways to re-use everyday objects for fun, interactive experiences, instead of simply throwing out something old and letting more trash pile up in landfills. We have the power to help our One Big Ocean (and earth!) stay as clean as possible. Plus, we can use our resources to make art in the process.
At the Louisiana Children’s Museum in New Orleans, families had a fun day of exciting group events, including underwater stories read aloud by WYES Outreach Manager Monica Turner, and hands-on super close-up looks at shells using a microscope! This was a great way for kids to gain a new perspective on something familiar, which is a practice we can all use to expand our knowledge and learn to appreciate the tiny details that make nature so incredible.
By visiting aquariums, going to the beach, and using educational tools, let’s work together to raise awareness and respect for the undersea community, so we can do more to keep our planet’s ocean clean and safe.
Here are THREE up-cycle activities you can do at home.
Make your own under water creatures!
