Welcome to our “Amazing Ocean Camp – Dive into Midnight Zone” series – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun themed activities on the ocean’s midnight zone! For this day, we took a deeper look at jellyfish and different types found in the midnight zone. We also learned about other jellyfish characteristics, so that we could compare.
Like most of our days, we have a mix of activities to introduce the topic and keep the kids learning throughout the day. For this day, we read a nonfiction book about jellyfish, watched a few videos on different jellyfish found in the ocean depths, read a few web pages, created a few jellyfish crafts, and built a few jellies of our own. Read on to check out the fun!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 But the gist of our day is having our kiddos focus on some work books or online learning tools in the early morning, an intro to the day’s theme after they were done, some videos around lunch time, and themed activities (reading time, writing time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments) in the afternoon. Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
Many kids may be familiar with jellyfish but the ones that live deep within the midnight zone are definitely worth a close look! Like many midnight zone creatures, these jellyfish are also bioluminescent, producing their own light, making their movements stunning and captivating! We spent a few moments talking through and learning about bioluminescence, then jellyfish in general, and finally to jellyfish found in the midnight zone!
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Bioluminescence in the deep sea: How and why do animals create their own light? By MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) (4m)
- Creatures of the Deep: Atolla Jellyfish by scuba.com. (1m) This is actually a webpage with a few brief paragraphs about the Atolla Jellyfish plus a short video of one in action!
- Weird and Wonderful: The psychedelic jelly is one of the most colorful residents of the deep sea by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) (1.5m)
- Giant Phantom Jelly. by MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) This one is also a webpage with two videos and some descriptions of the Giant Phantom Jelly.
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
For our snack of the day we made jellyfish with bagel tops and some veggie tentacles. We also had some fruit cups (which we used later in the day for our upcycled craft)
READING
It’s no secret that reading helps prevent that summer slide. Some even say this is the most important. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned!
For our book of the day, we read a book about jellyfish. Though it wasn’t specifically about jellyfish in the midnight zone, it was a great non-fiction book about jellyfish in general. We also read through some of the web pages from the video section since those had both videos and a good deal of information on the pages.
- Penguin Young Readers Level 4 – Jellyfish! By Ginjer L. Clarke
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing helps prevent that summer slide by both encouraging their creativity but also their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: OCEAN,, MIDNIGHT ZONE, JELLYFISH, BIOLUMINESCENCE
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- A jellyfish has no brains, no bones, no eyes, and no heart. If it did, what do you think it would think about?
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
For our craft of the day, we revisited one of our glow-in-the dark crafts!
- Glowing Jellyfish Craft – using upcycled materials (our container from our fruit cup snack) and some glow in the dark paint, we simulated a few ‘bioluminescent’ jellyfish of our own!
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
For our stem activity of the day, we purchased a plus plus jellyfish set. If you’ve got some extra plus plus blocks from other sets, you can follow the instructions and build a few more!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home camp article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Ocean Ideas or DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
