Field Trip: Marine Mammals and Outdoor Stewardship, Half Moon Bay State Beach

Blue Whale Skull at Visitor Center

When: All year, depending on docent availability
Where: Half Moon Bay State Beach  (95 Kelly Ave, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019)
Who: K-12. Younger children may accompany, but should stay besides their parents.
Cost: Free, but $1/child donation suggested.

In conjunction with the Half Moon Bay State Beach Office, California State Parks offers a series of school programs on beach habitats. There is a wide variety of topics from geology to wildlife, and the programs are adaptable to a wide age range (K-12).

Our group chose to do the "Marine Mammals and Outdoor Stewardship" program which introduces the local mammals and their adaptation for the seashore habitat. The first activity involved submerging our hands into Ziploc bags lined with blubber or fur into a pan of cold water. Students quickly found out that blubber kept their hands warm compared to a control (just the Ziploc bags), but fur was even better. Marine mammals have both adaptations for living in our cold waters. 

Fur or Blubber - which keeps you warmer?

The next activity was to compare different bones and pelts of seals, sealions and sea otters, It was fascinating to learn how bones can tell a story, e.g. the teeth of male sealions are rougher than female, and a gap along the skull indicated a young sealion for which the bones hadn't yet fused. The docent also explained some differences between a seal and sealion as well as similarities (huge eye sockets to see well in dim water, sharp canine teeth for eating fish). The children also enjoyed feeling the warm sea otter pelts -it made it easy to understand why they were once prized for trading, which tied in to what we had learned on the Tall Ships field trip.

1 year old male sealion skull

The final activity was "Whale Jenga" - an ingenious twist on Jenga where the layers were components of the whale's food chain: phytoplankton, zooplankton, krill and the whale. After assembling the tower, the students drew various cards which simulated changes to the environment, e.g. increase in whale population causes krill population to drop - remove 2 krill planks. The cards were difficult for younger ones so parents helped to read them; still this was an effective visual of how changes could cause the food chain to literally come crashing down.

Whale Jenga - will this tower survive?

The field trip wrapped up with a review of what we had learned, and ideas on keeping the environment healthy. The docents and volunteers deserve a big shout-out here - they were all friendly and patient in answering questions and keeping everyone, including the younger ones engaged. These programs are a hidden gem that deserve more attention from the homeschooling community.

As a perk, field trip attendees get a day pass to the beach (depending on availability) so parking was free and we could wrap up with lunch and fun at the beach!

Summer + Beach Field Trip = Homeschool Favorite