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Activity Two – Leatherback Turtles
Protecting Leatherback Turtles from Balloons
Materials:
- Plastic grocery bags
- Balloons filled with air and tied with ribbons or strings
- Pictures of jelly fish
- Rubbermaid container, aquarium or sink filled with water
Let's get started!
Part One:
Investigate the fact sheet and other information to determine what leatherback turtles eat and how they are adapted to eat their prey.
Find a picture of jellyfish or draw a picture of one. As a class or in a group answer the following questions:
- Has anyone seen a jellyfish in real life or felt one?
- How do jellyfish swim?
- Where do jellyfish live?
- How many jellyfish does an adult leatherback eat each day?
Part Two:
Fill your balloons with air and tie two or three together with ribbon like you would for a balloon bouquet at a birthday party.
Now, pop or deflate the balloons with a pin or pencil. Put the balloons in the water container. Look at the balloons floating in the water.
- What do the deflated balloons look like?
- What do you think a leatherback turtle would think the balloons look like?
- What could happen if leatherbacks ate a balloon?
Next, take a crumpled grocery bag and place it in the water.
- What happens?
- What does the grocery bag look like?
- What could a leatherback turtle do if it saw a grocery bag floating in the water?
- What could happen if a leatherback turtle swallowed a grocery bag?
Talk about it!
- How can a balloon end up in the ocean?
- How far could helium balloons travel?
- How do grocery bags end up in the ocean?
- What adaptations do leatherback turtles have that could make balloons and grocery bags dangerous to them?
- What can happen to a leatherback turtle if it eats a balloon or a grocery bag?
- What can we do to protect leatherback turtles?
- How can we make sure balloons don't end up in the ocean?
- How can we keep grocery store bags out of the ocean?
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