Welcome to our “Prehistoric Sea Creature Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to stunning (and sometimes terrifying) prehistoric sea creatures! For this day, we turned our attention to Megalodon – a massive shark with TONS of teeth! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on the amazing Megalodon!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
Many kids may be familiar with sharks, their ominous fins, and their terrifying teeth! BUT, they may not be as familiar with their prehistoric counterparts! These sites are great introductions with kid-friendly facts, images, and related content! They’re perfect for providing a brief intro for your little ones (or to gather up some knowledge as well!)!
- Megalodon Facts for Kids by Kiddle
- Megalodon by Britannica Kids
- Megalodon Facts & Photos by National Geographic Kids
- Megalodon: the truth about the largest shark that ever lived by Natural History Museum
- The Megalodon by The Smithsonian
WHAT TO WATCH
- Megalodon – The Ultimate Predator by National Geographic (2m)
- Mysteries of Megalodon by Ocean First Institute (58m)
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!
Many scientists believe that Megalodons evolved into the great white shark! For our snack of the day, there are tons of shark-themed snacks and creations. We went with a simple blue jello and shark gummy creation 🙂
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. 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! These are a few we picked from for the day:
The first three are books we brought back from our intro and dinosaurs day and revisited just the page on megalodons in each book. The last two are kid-friendly books specifically on Megalodons.
- Prehistoric Sea Beasts (If Extinct Beasts Came to Life) by Matthew Rake. This is a great book for elementary age children with fun facts and pictures!
- Smithsonian Kids Prehistoric Deep Sea by Marfe Ferguson Delano. This is a great book for elementary age children with fun facts and pictures!
- Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Life by Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan
Just Megalodons:
- Megalodon by Janet Riehecky
- Megalodon the Biggest and Deadliest Shark by TJ Rob
- Megalodon (Ancient Marine Life) by Kate Moening
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: PREHISTORIC, SEA CREATURE, FOSSIL, MEGALODON, SHARK
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 (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Would you rather meet a Megalodon or a shark?
- Do you think that sharks are scary? If so, what makes them so terrifying? What would make them look less scary?
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 crafts of the day, we gave them a few options that would help them enhance their pretend play or add in some of what they learned:
- Megalodon Coloring Page by Super Coloring
- How to Make A Megalodon Shark Tooth Fun Homeschool Project by Tina’s Dynamic Home School
- Shark Toilet Paper Roll Craft by Gluesticks and Gumdrops
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!
Continuing on our week-long project, we had them fill out their Field Journal and then compare/contrast with some of the modern day animals that may be (or were once thought to be) related to our prehistoric creature. For megalodons, these were sharks, specifically the great white shark.
In addition to filling out their Field Journal, there were also some fun building and science kits that we picked from:
- Building Kits. These definitely range in skill set and may be difficult for younger children. We ended up picking the first one and the end result was really awesome! (Note: these also double as a craft activity as well – the kids can use paint or markers to add some color!)
- Fossil Kits: These dig kits don’t specifically have megalodon tooth, but there are some other shark teeth fossils in there!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun 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 Prehistoric Sea Creature or Ocean Learning Fun Ideas, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
