Sea Life Aquarium and Ocean Education

When we visited the Legoland Discovery Center, we also received tickets to the Sea Life Aquarium. Visiting an aquarium is a great way to supplement ocean education. I want to share the highlights of our visit and talk about resources for supporting ocean education.

The first room upon entering the aquarium is filled will fish. It’s quite mesmerizing. You’ll need a minute to take it all in.

Walk through the freshwater streams and lakes, check out the shoreline, and make your way to the touchpools.

Along your journey through the aquarium, you’ll see quiz questions about the marine animals. Kids can answer the questions on scratch cards provided and receive a prize at the end.

You’ll find lots of animals in the large ocean tank.

 

Can you find Gertrude, the Green Sea Turtle? We found her near the underwater ocean tunnel.

Notice that she’s missing a flipper. She was tangled in some monofiliment fishing line. Here’s an opportunity to talk about trash and keeping our waterways clean. You can read more about my thoughts on protecting our environment from trash.

Part of an aquarium’s job is to educate the public on ocean issues. Aquariums also provide protected habitats for animals like Gertrude who can no longer survive in the wild.

Clownfish are some of the most easily recognizable ocean celebrities. Be sure to stop by the clownfish caves on your visit.

Don’t skip by the sea horses and pipefish. They are quite lovely creatures, don’t you think?

The Sea Life Aquarium is part of the world’s largest sea horse breeding network. Sea horses, like many of the organisms you find in reputable aquariums, are captive bred. Just like zoos have special breeding programs for some of their most endangered or threatened animals, aquariums do the same for animals like sea horses.

A visit to an aquarium helps connect us with the animals that call the water home. Falling in love with the animals in the aquarium and enjoying the time you spend there is beneficial to our ecosystem as a whole. The more people that feel a connection to nature, the more people will want to save and protect it.

More Ocean Education and Conservation Ideas

• Celebrate World Oceans Day with ocean activities and more.
• Check out this round up of 25+ ocean activities for kids.
• Teach children about Earth Day {includes links to 99 activties and ideas for celebrating}
• For more ocean themed ideas, check out my Ocean Pinterest board.

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