Learning about Shark Senses Activity and Free Printable

Shark Week is coming up (yay!) so on everyone’s minds are going to be sharks. My kids always have tons of questions as they watch which is why this activity is perfect to help answer their question, “How do sharks find their food when it’s under the sand?” Sharks use the sense of smell, hearing, sight, taste, and special senses that help them detect electrical fields from animals–an invisible sense that is hard for kids to understand. That’s what this activity helps with.

Kids are able to catch fish without being able to see them. My kid’s loved this Ocean Activity (we actually did it last year, but will be doing it again soon) because who doesn’t like catching fish–just ask a shark! Now I must admit I didn’t come up with this activity on my own. We first tried it out at our local aquarium during their Shark Week events. They set it up a bit differently with cardboard boxes to hide the fish. I decided I needed a faster way to do this activity so we used sand to hide the fish making it more like a sensory tray.

Learning about Shark Senses

Supplies:

Magnet wand

Small magnets

Shark senses printable (available to download for free at the end of this post)

Sand

Scissors

Tape

Tray

Directions:

Cut out the shark and fish from the printable.

Tape the fish to the small magnets and tape the shark to the magnet wand.

Cover the fish with sand.

Have child wave the wand above the surface of the sand to catch the fish. After the fish are caught kids can sort and count everything the shark ate. To add to this activity make a Shark Suncatcher Craft, learn about the Layers of the Ocean, and make an Ocean Sensory Bottle.