A Trip to the Ocean
Item # 089051285X
Climbing down to the shore, we noticed little pools of water. The night
before, the sand here was underwater. Now, with the tide out, it was
dry except for the water caught in jagged hollows among the rocks.
These are called tidepools.
Before we looked around, I gathered my field trip kids together. "Be sure to handle all the sea creatures gently," I told them. "And then return them to their homes. That gives other people a chance to enjoy this part of God's creation, too."
Inside one of the tidepools, Jeremy found a starfish, which is really not a fish at all. It's an animal, also called a sea star, so named for its five arms shaped like a star. Unlike most animals, if it loses an arm, it can grow a new one.
Todd found a sea animal called a sponge. The sponges we use for cleaning at home are copies of the ones God made to live in the ocean.
Beth found a large slug, called a sea hare. It takes its name from the two tentacles on its head that make it look a little like a rabbit.
Actually, these tentacles are not its ears, but its nose. The sea hare, when threatened by an enemy, hides itself by squirting a purple cloud into the water.
"Why does the ocean sometimes rise up to the cliff, but sometimes it's lower, like it is now?" asked Jeremy.
"That high and low movement of the ocean," I replied, "is called the tide."
"What makes the tide?" asked Beth.