Seahorse Unit Study for Kids

 Aren’t Seahorse so cool? They have to be one of the cutest fish in the sea. Well, at least that’s what we think. It’s crazy to know that in our ocean, where the kids swim, jump the waves, and surf, there are thousands of tiny and not so tiny seahorses swimming around with their fry(baby seahorses). We have spent the month of May exploring all kinds of wonderful things, Seahorses is one of them.

We enjoyed exploring the book; we found hidden fish, counted babies, and talked about the differences in how different types of sea life carry their babies differently. Did you know that the daddy seahorses carry the babies in their pouch? Also, when a seahorse is born, it is only 1/2 a centimeter long. That’s tiny. The average size of an adult Seahorse is 4-6 inches, and it hits the adult stage of life at 8 months old.

The boys created a seahorse using the mosaic look Eric Carle does in his books.

They did a beautiful job.

Next, we talked about how and what seahorses eat. The boys didn’t want to suck up plankton or shrimp, so I decided yogurt would be perfect for them to see what eating a seahorse was like. They used their straw to suck the yogurt up like a vacuum. They liked it so much that they asked for another yogurt.

I drew a seahorse on that little white piece of paper(it’s approx. 5 in. long-the average seahorse size). We then traced how big everyone was onto butcher paper and measured how many seahorses we would have to stack up to be the same height. (Math, and they don’t even realize it)

Of course, I never wanted to leave Baby Bell out of our learning, so she got to play with a seahorse, too.

I recommend reading the books Seahorse Fry and Seahorses along with Mr. Seahorse, they are fabulous books packed full of great information.

The best way to learn about something is to find and watch the real thing.

When seahorses sleep, they hang onto seaweed with their tails so they won’t be swept away from their homes.

Little B was fascinated by the seahorses.

Swimming seahorses

The seahorse is back to sleep.

 *When seahorses find their mate, they dance together every morning, holding on to each other’s tail.

*After the fry hatch, they live in their dad’s pouch for five days before their dad pushes them out into the big ocean.

*It takes humans 9 months to grow a child inside of us, it only takes 15 days for a seahorse to hatch.

*A growing baby(fry) seahorse eats thousands of shrimp in one day. An adult seahorse eats 50.

If you haven’t purchased Mister Seahorse for your shelves, it’s a must-have. We love it!

The boys enjoyed learning all about seahorses.

I hope you will join us for our next Shells and Hermit crabs study.

If you want other great ideas, check out my Pinterest board here.