Homeschool Students

Fish Tales 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 in our "Sea & Discover Zone." Sing songs and rhymes, dance and read books with Aquarium Educators, and maybe even meet an animal ambassador! Space is limited to the first 30 children. Parent/caregiver must be present.

Registration is not required for this program.

Meet the Animals

Time: 10:15 - 11 a.m.

Cost: $5 per person

Nothing sparks an interest in nature and science like an up-close meeting with live animals. An aquarium educator will introduce students to live crabs and snails. Children will count their legs, describe their body shapes and explain how they feel. Finally, they’ll collect their ideas and observations on an “I Notice, I Wonder” chart.

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House for Hermit Crab

Time: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Cost: $5 per person

Hermit crab is outgrowing his shell and it’s time for a new home. Using Eric Carle’s classic story as motivation, students consider how animals use their habitat and other plants and animals to survive. Students meet and touch live crabs and mollusks, sorting and classifying them by size, shape and other attributes that promote early science skills.

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Shark Safari

Time: 10:15 - 11:15 a.m.

Cost: $5 per person

Sharks and rays are an incredibly diverse group of animals, representing all sorts of sizes, body shapes, and behaviors to suit the places and climates they’ve occupied over time. Students start off examining shark teeth, jaws, and models, feel the sandpapery texture of shark skin, and learn how superb adaptations have allowed sharks to survive for millions of years in a wide variety of ocean habitats.

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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 will meet and touch different kinds of crabs, mollusks and gastropods 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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Squid Adaptations

Time: 1:30 - 2:30 p.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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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 every 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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Coasts that Shift

Time: 12 - 1 p.m.

Cost: $8 per person

Investigate the science of extreme weather, focusing on hurricanes, storm surge, and erosion; and learn about the importance of living shorelines for coastal protection.

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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 these comparative-anatomy programs, 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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Marine Life Encounter Cruise

Time: 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. & 1:15 - 3:15 p.m.

Cost: $30 per person

Study marine biodiversity from the water’s surface down to the bottom for a first-hand understanding of Long Island Sound’s interdependent marine life. Students utilize such sampling techniques as a plankton tow, biodredge and trawl net to bring up varieties of fish, crabs and mollusks – and maybe even squid, sea stars, shrimp and sharks. A video microscope (tied to a giant flat-screen monitor) and a touch tank right on the boat enhance observations.

Cruise participants must be 42” tall to participate. Anyone under 16 years old must have a parent/caregiver on the cruise. Parents/caregivers are required to purchase cruise tickets.  Cruise participants should meet directly at the Aquarium’s R/V Spirit of the Sound dock, located at 4 North Water Street, on the corner of N. Water Street and Washington Street.   

Click Here to Register for 9:30 a.m. Cruise

Click Here to Register for 1:15 p.m. Cruise