DAY 3 – VAMPIRE SQUIDS
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 one of the midnight zone’s inhabitants – the vampire squid! We also learned about other squid and octopus 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 squids and other creatures who produce ink, watched a few videos on vampire squids, read a few web pages, created a few squid crafts, and performed a few easy science experiments. 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 an octopus or a squid but the vampire squid is in a category all its own! If the vampire squid is a mystery to you, this Vampire Squid webpage from Monterey Bay Aquarium is a great start! It even has a few videos so you can see the vampire squid in action!
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:
- Vampire Squid webpage from Monterey Bay Aquarium. We used this in our introduction – the page has great facts as well as two short videos.
- Octonauts – The Speedy Sailfish / The Vampire Squid. S1E9. The Vampire Squid segment is the second half.
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 some silly squid with sandwiches and some jelly tentacles. We also had a strawberry and cheese stick jellyfish shaped snack 🙂
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 books of the day, we did have an octopus/squid book as well as reading through a few web pages on Vampire Squid. Though we didn’t write out the question on our book report, we did ask the kiddos if the vampire squid was misleading name as many of the webpages we read through pointed out vampire squids weren’t actually squids!
- Ink by Stephanie Drimmer
- Top 12 Unique Vampire Squid Facts by animalstratosphere.com
- Vampire squid facts for kids by kids.kiddle.co
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, VAMPIRE SQUID, CELEPHOD
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!
- Do you think the vampire squid is scary like a vampire? What would you name this midnight zone creature if you saw it first?
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!
It was a bit tough to get an accurate looking vampire squid craft but we did have a few squid themed crafts. We also printed out some of our vampire squid images and added them to our midnight zone wall!
- Squid Wood Cutouts: We used a few squid shapes from the Sea Life Wood Cutouts Set and let the kiddos decorate with paint and sequins and glitter.
- Mini Umbrella Vampire Squid: Vampire squid have webbed arms that sometimes open up and look a bit like an umbrella, so naturally our minds went to mini umbrellas! We painted some mini umbrellas (if you have red or dark brown ones, you can skip this step) and glued on a mini red marker top. Instant vampire squid 🙂
- Vampire Squid Craft: this one comes from acreativelearner.com and is a variation of the toilet paper squid you might have seen in other crafts. It’s quite simple to make and doesn’t require too many supplies!
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!
Our STEM activities were centered more around squid but did take a few moments to talk through scientific classifications and how these charts evolve as scientists find more and more information!
- LEGO Deep Sea Creatures: LEGO Creator 3in1 Deep Sea Creatures 31088 Make a Shark, Squid, Angler Fish, and Crab with This Sea Animal Toy Building Kit
- Cartesian Diver Experiment: Diving Squid Science by thestemlaboratory.com.
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!
