Marine Science Resource Sites for Kids

NASA Oceanography – NASA seeks to teach about our oceans and scientific exploration. They sponsor programs and projects designed to increase ocean literacy among learners of all ages and backgrounds. This site is colorful, interactive, and among my favorites for the marine science sites. There is plenty to read and lots of wonderful images to delight the visual learner.

Sea World – Contains tons of great information about sea critters and marine science. The “Teacher’s Guides”, provided in the teacher’s section, are the BEST materials for complete curriculum units. They are free, contain math, reading, writing, history, geography, etc., and are geared towards grade-level and subject. “Fun Zone” activities are printables rather than interactive explorations. This site as a great home schooling resource!

MacGillivray Freeman’s Coral Reef Adventure – Perhaps my FAVORITE Ocean exploration site, this site is interactive, educational and just plain FUN! Based upon the IMAX movie, “Coral Reef Adventure”, this site lets students play games and explore to learn more about coral reefs and marine science.

Virginia Marine Science Museum Virtual Field Trip – Can’t go to Virginia to visit the Marine Science Museum? Go on a field trip anyway! This virtual tour contains photos of animals on exhibit and provides text information about each species. Be sure to check out the link to the “WhaleNet” where pinnepeds are being tracked via satellite. You can view the maps to see where they have been!

PBS’s Secrets of the Ocean Realm – This site is based upon the film series of the same title. The site is relatively small, but colorful and has great activities for teachers to use. The activities are basically science experiments that convey a concept about marine life. While not complete learning units, the activities are fun to incorporate into lessons when you are studying the ocean. (Check out my complete Venomous Marine Animals lesson plan adapted from this site.)

Ocean World – http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/ is a joint project between Texas A& M,
The Jason Project, and NASA. The satellite, Jason1, transmits information which is used to develop topic based study units for the study of marine science. Ocean World provides interactive information about our oceans.

National Marine Mammal Laboratory – This site provides tons of information on marine mammal species, exploration, and other aspects of marine mammal preservation. The site is primarily text-based, has photos, and good research information. The site is not particularly “interactive”.

Homeschool Science Unit Studies Page

Be sure to check out our MAIN Science Page for a list of many additional science topics for kids. Each topic page has links to interactive, audio-visual websites and optional resources to help you with your homeschool science.