FishTales Story Time
Time: 10:15 - 11 a.m. and 1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
Cost: Free
Fish Tales is an interactive storytime for toddlers and parents/caregivers. Sing songs and rhymes, dance and read books with Aquarium Educators, and maybe even meet an animal ambassador! Space is limited to the first 20 children. Parent/caregiver must be present.
Click Here to Register for 10:15 a.m. Story Time
Click Here to Register for 1:30 p.m. Story Time
Meet the Animals
Time: 10:15 - 11 a.m.
Cost: $5 per person
Students observe and touch a variety of local intertidal animals including crabs, snails, and horseshoe crabs. Through a guided discussion students will identify structures these animals have on their bodies to help them find and eat food, protect themselves, and move in their habitats.
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Similarities & Differences
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $5 per person
By simply observing an animal eat and move, we can figure out a lot about its everyday life and habitat! With the help of an aquarium educator, take a look at some of the aquarium's beloved animals and use the power of observational skills and critical thinking to develop an idea of how each animal lives in its habitat.
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Shark Safari
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Cost: $5 per person
Touching a live shark is a memorable experience. But that’s just one element of this exciting program. Students start off examining shark teeth and jaws, feel the sandpapery texture of shark skin, and learn how superb adaptations have allowed sharks to survive for millions of years. Then, your safari guide will lead students to the Aquarium’s Ocean Beyond the Sound exhibit for a close look at the 7-foot sand tiger sharks. The final stop is our Shark and Ray Touch Pool to safely touch small sharks and a variety of rays (cousins of sharks).
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Squid Adaptations
Time: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Cost: $5 per person
Among the most amazing and alien life forms on Earth, squid are endlessly fascinating. Students examine real squid specimens to locate and identify the body structures the creatures use for feeding, moving and protecting themselves. They use tweezers and hand lenses to find a squid’s ink sac, siphon, arms and tentacles, and also compare a squid’s adaptations to those of fish and jellies.
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Life Between The Tides
Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Cost: $5 per person
Imagine living in a place that gets flooded every day! That’s the challenge faced by the amazing and resilient animals of Long Island Sound’s intertidal zone. Students read tide charts and learn how the moon influences the rise and fall of the tides. They meet and touch different kinds of crabs, mollusks, and gastropods, use an age-appropriate field guide to identify them and employ their observation skills to explain how these animals are adapted to the daily and seasonal changes in their environment.
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Marine World Magnified
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Cost: $5 per person
As amazing as the marine world is to the naked eye, there are incredible plants and animals that can only be seen with special tools. Students use microscopes and hand lenses to observe different kinds of plankton and invertebrates, which may include barnacles, sea squirts, jellyfish larva, tunicates, brine shrimp and more. Then, they use math and language strategies to describe the scale of what they’ve seen.
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Exploring Systems
Time: 1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $8 per person
What are the essential parts of the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems? How do they work together to accomplish the body’s essential functions? In this comparative-anatomy program, students are guided in a focused fish dissection. They think not only about how these systems operate in fish, but compare them to their analogous systems in humans.
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Career Tour
Time: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Cost: $5 per person
Explore off-exhibit areas as you learn about the many careers that are involved in making The Maritime Aquarium a great place for visitors as well as for the animals that live here. View the "Ocean Beyond the Sound" exhibit - with its 7-foot sharks - from above and visit our "Fish Kitchen" to learn how our aquarists meet the nutritional needs of more than 1,000 animals each day. Students not only learn about the behind-the-scenes operations of the Aquarium but what they need to do to work with animals in a similar setting someday.
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Ocean Advocates
Time: 10:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Cost: $10 per person
Understanding ocean conservation issues is important in developing the next generation of leadership. Through reading of scientific literature and discussion of videos participants will gain an understanding of how microplastics are impacting ocean ecosystems and causing large problems. They’ll meet some animal ambassadors directly impacted by microplastics and write love letters to the sea, asking leaders to make change to policies relating to plastics and the environment.
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