For centuries gray whales were hunted by humans. Many are still hurt in collisions with ships or get tangled up in fishing nets. Can you press the SHELTER button to make a protected area—called a sanctuary—where they’ll be safe?
Materials you’ll need
- Blue Construction Paper
- Origami Paper (any colours or patterns)
- Black Felt-tip Marker
Instructions
- Place construction paper down on a flat surface to make an ocean.
- Draw a sanctuary for the whales on the construction paper using the felt-tip marker.
- Create origami whales to populate your ocean. Easy tutorials for different styles of whales can be found at Origame.me and Red Ted Art.
Suggested discussion topics
- What a shelter looks like for us humans (houses, cars, schools, etc.) and what shelters protect us from (weather, danger, etc).
- Why it’s important for conservationists to secure sanctuary shelters for whales (what danger they still face).
- Why whales are important to our ecosystem (Science 101 provides a great learning page here).
