Marine biology is a fascinating topic for children of all ages and perfect for interest-led learning. Whether you have a child who is obsessed with sea creatures, or you’ve recently made a trip to the beach or aquarium and you want to build on that experience with some more structured learning, we’ve curated some of the best resources to help you and your child learn more about our amazing underwater world.
In this article we’ll give you our top recommendations for each of these categories:
- Curriculum
- Favorite Ocean Books for Kids
- Poetry
- Activity Books
- Field Trip Ideas
Do you have a favorite resource that didn’t make our list? We’d love to hear about it. Let us know in the comments. And if you have studied marine biology in your homeschool, please share your experience so we can all learn from each other.
Curriculum
Exploring Creation with Marine Biology
Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Marine Biology course for high schoolers has been a tried-and-true staple of homeschool families for years. This textbook-based course is designed for upper level high schoolers who have already taken Exploring Creation with Biology.
The course begins with a chapter on oceans themselves (including plate tectonics, salinity & density, waves, tides, and other physical characteristics) before studying sea creatures and the different types of ocean zones. Subsequent chapters cover life in the sea, the first four kingdoms (Monera, Protista, Fungi, and Plantae), marine invertebrates, marine vertebrates, marine ecology, the intertidal zone, estuary communities, coral reefs, continental shelf communities, the deep ocean, and more.
The textbook is colorful and comprehensive with lots of helpful pictures, diagrams, and experiments. Students read each module in the textbook, take notes and make outlines in the accompanying student notebook, and complete labs. A daily schedule is included to help your child stay on track. Study guides, tests, and written assignments are clearly spelled out to make assessment simple for you as a parent educator.
You will not find a better option for a high schooler who is eager to meet their lab science requirement while studying marine biology.
Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
This Apologia favorite for younger learners recently got a refresh, and it is now better than ever! Designed for grades K – 6, this program parallels the material covered in Exploring Creation with Zoology 1, but you do not need to complete the first course before using the second. If you have an elementary aged child who is excited to learn about sea life, you can jump right in to Exploring Creation with Zoology 2.
This course is organized similarly to the high school level material described above with a textbook and notebooking journal, but lessons are shorter and structured in a way that is fun and exciting for younger learners. The notebooking journal is really where this program shines! With notebooking pages where children can write or draw what stands out to them, places to record experiments, minibooks to cut out and put together, games, puzzles, and more, this is the kind of program your child will be excited about using.
I love the hands-on activities! Each chapter includes several so you can pick and choose the ones that will be most engaging for your child. Here are a few examples of activities you will find in Exploring Creation with Zoology 2:
- Simulating ocean currents using a hair dryer and cereal
- Building a diorama (or ocean box) and filling it with each creature that is studied
- Painting a plankton bloom
- Sketching and comparing the tracks made by different types of sea turtles
- Starting a home aquarium
Whether your child learns best through reading, writing, or hands-on activities, you’ll find plenty of material to work with in the newly updated Exploring Creation with Zoology 2.
Favorite Ocean Books for Kids
Picture Books
From living books set at the seashore to biographies of oceanographers and colorful non-fiction titles about the creatures of the deep, these are our top recommended picture books about sea creatures and ocean life.
- The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown
- At the Beach by Anne Rockwell
- One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
- Curious George At the Aquarium by Margaret Rey
- Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle
- National Geographic Kids’ First Big Book of the Ocean
- Hello, Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan
- Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons
- The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
- The Ocean Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta
- Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd
- The Boy and the Ocean by Max Lucado
- Comet’s Nine Lives by Jan Brett
- The Complete Aquarium Adventure by Bill and Merrilee Clifton
- Water: Discovering the Precious Resource All Around Us by Olga Fadeeva
- Exploring the Deep Dark Sea by Gail Gibbons
- Shark Lady by Jess Keating
- Beneath the Waves by Lily Murray
- Pagoo by Holling Clancy Holling
- Seabird by Holling Clancy Holling
Early Readers
If your child is just starting to take off with reading, these are some good options to consider as you look for engaging reading material that will help them gain independence as a reader.
- National Geographic Kids: Sea Turtles
- Amazing Whales! by Sarah Thompson
- DK Life of a Baby Lemon Shark
- DK Ocean Animals
- How Many Fish? by Caron Lee Cohen
- Dolphins! by Sharon Bokoske
- Down by the Sea from Abeka
- Who Would Win? Killer Whale vs. Great White Shark
- Who Would Win? Whale vs. Giant Squid
- Where Is the Great Barrier Reef? by Nico Medina
- What Were the Shark Attacks of 1916? by Nico Medina
- Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers Book 2 and Book 5
Chapter Books
Check out these living books for your middle and high school readers.
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Latham
- Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
- Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Guide and Reference Books
More comprehensive guide books like these are good to have on hand for answering questions and stoking curiosity.
- Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
- The Big Book of the Blue by Yuval Zommer
- Concise Seashore Wildlife Guide
- Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman
- Ocean! Our Watery World As You’ve Never Seen It Before by Derek Harvey
- The Fascinating Ocean Book for Kids: 500 Incredible Facts! by Bethanie and Josh Hestermann
Poetry
If you’ve been around here awhile, you know I love using poetry in my homeschool! I couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to tell you about this lovely collection of poems from Bushel and Peck. It’s called Favorite Poems of the Sea, and it’s the kind of book you’ll treasure long after you’re done homeschooling. It has classic poems from the likes of William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson as well as more modern pieces that you may not yet be familiar with. (If you like a good poetry volume, you might also enjoy Favorite Poems for the Garden and Favorite Poems for Bedtime from the same series).
Activity Books
There are so many amazing activity books for kids that are centered around ocean life. These books will help your child explore through hands-on activities like stickers, coloring pages, puzzles, drawing, and watercolor painting. Perfect for strewing and fun for learning on the go!
- Usborne First Sticker Book: Under the Sea
- Usborne First Sticker Book: Sharks and Rays
- Usborne First Sticker Book: Narwhals
- God Created the Sea Life of the World from Master Books
- Learn by Stickers: Use Phonics to Create Sea Animals
- Discovery Real Life Ocean Sticker Book
- Ocean Animals Preschool Activity Book
- Scratch-Off Hidden Pictures Mysterious Ocean Puzzles
- Ocean Drawing Book
- Watercolor with Me in the Ocean by Dana Fox
- Ocean Anatomy Activity Book For Curious Kids: Match-Ups, Word Puzzles, Quizzes, Mazes, Secret Codes, and Lots More
- Creatures of the Ocean Sticker Poster
- Glow-in-the-Dark Ultimate Ocean Sticker Book
- Seashore Plants and Animals Coloring Book
Field Trip Ideas
If you’re near the coast (or visiting), there are lots of opportunities to make amazing memories while growing your knowledge of the sea and its creatures.
- Go to the beach. Make sure to check out the tidepools for ocean life. Bring along a field guide or the Burgess Seashore Book to identify what you’re seeing.
- Visit an aquarium. Draw or nature journal your favorite creature.
- Participate in a beach cleanup day.
- Go on a whale watch.
- Join a program put on by a nature center like the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire, the Marine Science Center in Florida, Ecological Marine Adventures in North Carolina, or Marine Science Institute in California.
- Visit a facility that helps rehabilitate ocean animals like Sea Turtle, Inc. in Texas.
- Try snorkeling or scuba diving
Don’t forget to download our free Field Trip packet for some fun printables to help you enjoy your experience including bingo cards for the beach, the aquarium, and lots of other locations!