ALOHA-The Turtle Experiment

So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.  Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

-Genesis 1:21-22

 

Turtle Experiment-DAY 1



Aloha! We have finally arrived in Hawaii, and while it seemed like a bad time of the year to come, it has had its bonuses. We arrived at a time of the year when things are not quite as busy with housing. There are a lot of vacation days during this time as well, so we only have to be without daddy for half days for a couple of weeks. During this vacation and half-day time, we have done some sightseeing. One of the places we have visited is the Waikiki Aquarium.


The Waikiki Aquarium is a nice place to visit on days when you got too much sun the day before and want to be indoors for a reprieve from the sun. It is rather small, and I was a little surprised considering we are on an island next to the Pacific Ocean. It was still nice and all of my children enjoyed it. There are both indoor and outdoor exhibits. The indoor exhibits consist of mostly a variety of sea life such as jellyfish, rays, and a rainbow of fish. The outdoor exhibits include seals and giant clams. This list is not conclusive, but just gives you an idea of what you might see on your visit.

Anytime we visit any place of this nature, I have to visit the gift shop! (I think my kids like it too….) Anyhoo…I like to visit the gift shop and check out all the educational materials they have. On this particular trip I bought a flashlight that had different lenses of sea life you could switch out, a puzzle with sea life that contained simple subtraction problem, a turtle that swelled when soaked in water, and a helicopter that my son wanted. The turtle is the subject of my post today.

Because I am a homeschooling mom, I am always looking for unique ways to teach my children. We are not really a sit down with paper and pencil kind of bunch yet. So we found this turtle, and I thought it would be a wonderful science experiment. I am taking photos of its growth, and so far I have days 1 and 3. In the next post, I will talk more about what science skills are being covered, and about what is supposed to happen with the turtle.

What kind of fun science experiments are you doing with your kids?
~ALOHA!!

*Note*   The turtle experiment did not turn out exactly like I had hoped.  I thought of many creative things to do mid-experiment, but since we were in a hotel, it was sort of impromptu and didn't work out exactly as I had hoped.  The turtle did continue to grow over a period of about a three weeks until someone tore his head off.  During that time he became very slimy and not a lot of fun to work with. Using a science journal with this experiment is very important.  You can incorporate art by drawing the turtle during its stages of growth.  Mathematics can also be covered during this experiment by measuring the turtle as he grows and decreases in size.