Our team at the Marine Discovery Centre hope to connect you and your students with the marine world through our interactive excursions and classroom activities. Learning experiences at the Marine Discovery Centre are facilitated by qualified marine scientists and a cultural educator.
The Marine Discovery Centre is closely aligned with ACARA (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority) particularly the cross-curriculum priorities of Sustainability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.
Before visiting the Marine Discovery Centre please take time to read through the information pack and risk assessment relevant to your class year level. Excursion worksheets are available to download and print to complete during your visit either on the marine trail or inside the centre. Clipboards are available to borrow but we do ask that you please provide pencils for your students to use. During their visit, students will discover the wonders of South Australia's marine and coastal environments and the human impacts that may affect them. Specialised activities and presentations are available if your classes are focussing on particular environmental topics at the time of your visit. Please let us know when making your booking.
Following your visit to the centre, students can continue their marine journey with our activity sheets, lesson ideas and puzzles. Teachers and educators can download and print these resources to use as part of lesson plans, or simply engage students further with the marine and coastal environment. These can be used in conjunction with some of our information sheets.
More educational resources, curriculum guidelines and video content is available via the Porci's Ocean Patrol series, in addition to 1 minute videos and activities
Before Your Visit:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
Beach Find Bingo - Students are asked to find and draw or list the items they find on the beach and sort them into categories. A right or wrong answer isn't the most important aspect, rather that the students have a chance to discover amazing things about the marine environment. This can be completed in small groups with the help of an adult volunteer or teacher.
Beach Colours Bingo - Students have the opportunity to find and draw beach combing finds according to their colour, exploring which colours are most common and which are rare in nature. This can be completed in small groups with the help of an adult volunteer or teacher.
Classroom Activity Sheets:
Leafy Sea Dragon Colouring Sheet
Port Jackson Shark Colouring Sheet
Porcupine Fish Colouring Sheet
Before Your Visit:
Curriculum Tables:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
Beach Find Bingo - Students are asked to find and draw or list the items they find on the beach and sort them into categories such as: smooth, curved, colourful, spiky, tiny and a creature's home. A right or wrong answer isn't the most important aspect, rather that the students have a chance to discover amazing things about the marine environment.
Beach Colours Bingo - Students have the opportunity to find and draw beach combing finds according to their colour, exploring which colours are most common and which are rare in nature.
Drawing Discovery Trail - This is a drawing activity where students are asked to look around the centre and draw items that are: round, pointed, litter, recyclable, an animal, colourful, moving, long and tiny. This allows students to explore the centre while making new discoveries.
Classroom Activity Sheets:
Mirror Images - Students will explore the idea of symmetry in marine animal shapes.
Where Does it Belong? - Students will discuss and identify which bin certain litter items belong in, and which items should stay on the beach.
Seaside Storytime - Students will write a story from the perspective of a rockpool creature, thinking about how they move, eat and what affects them in daily life.
Wonderful Water - Water is all around! Our Blue Planet is connected by the water cycle, and in this activity students will explore how important water is for everyday life.
Sea Life Guess Who? - Students will use clues to guess the names of some South Australian sea creatures, and match them to their picture.
Lesson Ideas
Puzzles and Fun Activities:
Before Your Visit:
Curriculum Tables:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
Junior Marine Scientist - Students are asked to survey the beach and become a marine scientist for the day. They will answer questions about the beach environment using scientific observations and keeping a record of their data.
The Beachcombing Detective - Students are asked to identify and find the items that are displayed on the Beachcombing Detective sheet. Each item that is discovered has a point value, with totals tallied up at the end of the trail.
Discovery Trail - The Discovery Trail takes place within the Marine Discovery Centre and all of the answers on the activity sheet can be found within the centre giving the students the ability to discover the answers themselves.
Classroom Activity Sheets:
Design a New Species of Fish - Students will use their knowledge of the features of familiar marine animals to design a new species based on how their new fish eats, moves and protects itself.
Survival in the Sea - Students are invited to think about how different marine animals are able to protect themselves in the ocean, such as using hard shells, barbs or camouflage, and draw a new sea creature in its habitat. They will also label features that help it to survive in the big, blue sea.
Beach Practices - Students will discuss the different activities that people participate in on the beach, and whether these are OK or will have a negative impact on the environment. They are asked to explain each of their answers.
My Ocean Pledge - Students will use their understanding of their role in caring for our environment to create their own certificate to take home.
Sea Creature Movements - Students will discuss how different sea animals move around in their environment and fill them out in a table, and decide how this could help the animal to survive in its habitat. These movements could also be acted out in a role play game.
Classification - Students will use their research skills to name two animals from each of the animal groups on this worksheet, and list unique features of each group that help scientists to classify living things.
Lesson Ideas
Puzzles and Fun Activities:
Fishing Scramble Puzzle Answers
An educational resource for years 5 & 6
The Great Southern Reef Education Resources
Before Your Visit:
Curriculum Tables:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
Marine Trail Scavenger Hunt - Students are asked to use their scientific skills and identify what they find along Henley Beach for the Beach Marine Trail. The objects washed up by the waves and tide can tell us a lot about the underwater environment. An answer key is provided for educators.
Marine Trail Scavenger Hunt Answer Key
Marine Debris Survey - Students will pick up litter on the marine trail and tally the kinds of litter they find. They will be asked some questions about the kinds and amount of marine debris found by the group. This worksheet can also be used in other clean-ups at school or the local park.
Discovery Trail - The Discovery Trail takes place within the Marine Discovery Centre and all of the answers on the activity sheet can be found within the centre giving the students the ability to discover the answers themselves.
Classroom Activity Sheets:
Whales and Sharks - Students will research and discover the different features and behaviours of mammals and fish in the ocean, and compare them to features of humans. This could lead to a discussion about mammals, fish and other animal groups. Whale and shark information sheets can be found here on our students page.
Fishy Business - Students will use mathematical skills to find out about fish survival. They must subtract and divide from the initial number of eggs laid to see how many survive to adulthood, and discover what may happen to eggs or fish fry along the way.
My Ocean Pledge - Students will use their understanding of their role in caring for our environment to create their own certificate to take home.
Animal Expert - Students will use their research skills to become a marine expert on the sea creature of their choice by discovering more about its habitat, food, predators and more. We recommend finding out more about our local South Australian sea animals from temperate waters.
Lesson Ideas
Puzzles and Fun Activities:
Marine Habitats Letter Tiles Answers
An educational resource for years 5 & 6
An educational resource for years 7 to 10
Understanding more about marine parks in South Australian waters
The Great Southern Reef Education Resources
Before Your Visit:
Curriculum Tables:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
Marine Debris Survey - Students will pick up litter on the marine trail and tally the kinds of litter they find. They will be asked some questions about the kinds and amount of marine debris found by the group. This worksheet can also be used in other clean-ups at school or the local park.
Beach Survey - Students will explore how to conduct a scientific survey by recording conditions, selecting sample sites and drawing diagrams of beach combing items found at various points along the beach. For smaller visiting groups, this can be performed in conjunction with Secchi disk sampling on Henley jetty to measure water clarity.
An educational resource for years 7 to 10
Understanding more about marine parks in South Australian waters
The Great Southern Reef Education Resources
Teacher Notes & Student Courses
Before Your Visit:
Excursion Activity Sheets:
During your Vacation Care visit, you are welcome to download and bring along printed activity sheets relevant to age groups as listed above. Alternatively, your students can freely explore the beach on the marine trail and take part in special activities inside the centre.