Helping Children Understand the Value of Ocean Conservation

Children Learn the Value of Conservation of the Ocean

School age children may be more conscious of conservation than their parents and teachers realize. With the seas rising and flooding inland becoming an annual problem, children struggle to understand why oceans are undergoing massive destructive changes. Educating children on the value of ocean conservation helps them grow more aware of the dangers to their environment and ecological balance.

A Solid Education in Conservation

Children of preschool age learn much about the ocean from regular vacations to places like the US Virgin Islands. They can be taught the basics of swimming and snorkeling while parents point out various oceanic components like the tides, species of fish and the differences in ocean water quality. By the time children begin formal education in elementary school, they are fully informed of the basics required to keep oceans clean and safe. From this point, learning more about ocean conservation can be part of school projects. Children can form groups that are designed to increase their awareness of conservation efforts they can help promote.

Vacations Teach Much about the Value of Conservation

Turn vacation time into a learning experience for children. Choose vacation spots they can study prior to reaching the vacation destination. Make a game of pinpointing ocean sites children find that may be in danger of damage. Tie the types of lifestyles like fishing and tourism to the need to preserve the oceans and keep them safe for the future.

Young children can make scrapbooks or collect various items they find that reflect poor conservation efforts in vacation spots. Simple collections of sand dollars and sea shells can be used to compare those affected by ocean damage to those in healthy condition.

Oceans and Teen Awareness

Teens are particularly sensitive to the environment around them. Often, it takes teens with like minds to form the types of conservation groups. Adults can moderate these and offer incentives to meet the goals of each group. Summer vacations are the perfect time to establish a group whose aims are to protect the ocean and sea life. Keep the topics of each teen group meeting interesting and engaging. Each member of the group should provide regular input on projects. One of the most fun projects for teens is a scavenger hunt at the ocean. Break the group into smaller groups and provide each group with a list of items they need to hunt for while at the beach. Each item should reflect a potential conservation project. Allow the groups to discuss their findings and to contribute to whole picture of ocean conservation. These projects for teens can help them to feel more of an obligation to take part in conservation into their adult years.

Children Grow into Conservation of the Ocean

It's also important for children to be involved in the most recent news on conservation of the ocean. This can be the locations of red tides, changes in the breeding patterns of whales and polar bears or it can be a study of the massive decline of coral in the Caribbean and the Great Barrier Reef and the effects it’s having on the colonies of sea life in these oceans. Helping children understand the value of ocean conservation is as simple as allowing them a part in conservation programs.