The best time to view the many creatures that live along a rocky shore is during low tide, when pools of water and animals become trapped in the rocks. When climbing along the tide pools, take care not to harm any of the residents. And if you pick something up, return it gently where you found it. To find the tide schedule for your area, check your newspaper or try Tides Info.
Coastal Journey is a diary of scientific discovery written by a young teen, as she explores the rocky shores of Washington state with her marine biologist father. She writes about the tides, the difficult living conditions they create, and five kinds of plants and animals that live in tide pools: algae, cnidarians, crustaceans, echinoderms, and mollusks. The diary is nicely illustrated with photographs and drawings, but lacks a table of contents.
The colorful Enchanted Learning site for elementary ages features a nice illustration of the four intertidal zones: from the spray zone (which is usually dry) to the low tide zone (which is almost always wet.) But the best clicks are the twenty printable, color-able animal printouts arranged in alphabetic order from anemone to zooplankton. There are related sections on Tides (follow the hyperlink in the opening text), Walruses, and Biomes.
"Imagine waking up in the morning submerged in freezing water, spending your afternoon baking beneath a merciless sun, and ending the day battered by 10-foot waves that smash into you with the force of a hundred hammer blows -- all the while fending off attacks from neighbors intent on making you their next meal." The articles and photos are fabulous, but for something interactive visit the virtual tide pools at both low and high tide. Pre-readers will really enjoy pointing and clicking on the tide pool residents in this 360 degree virtual reality exhibit.
Elementary school teacher Norma Goddard combines her love of teaching, computers and the ocean into this online lesson. Click on the small photos at the bottom of each page to navigate around the site. You'll learn about starfish, anemones, crabs, sea urchins, limpets, and algae. From the algae page, you can begin the eight question multiple-choice quiz. "Who has 44 arms?"
Buy Tide Pools Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Doheny State Beach | Virtual Tide Pool |
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