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Fintastic Sharks and Where to Find Them: Activities

Sharkey likes to learn by doing! He likes to get his fins wet and thought you might like to try some of these fun crafts and experiments below!

How Do Sharks Float?

Some shark species are huge! A Great White Shark can weigh up to 2400 lbs (1089 kg) and a Whale Shark can come in around 41,000 lbs (18597 kg). So why don't they sink to the bottom of the ocean?

Let's find out!

For this experiment, you will need:

  • a grown up
  • a funnel
  • 2 balloons (the kind you blow up, not water balloons)
  • a bowl of water
  • 1/2 cup measuring cup
  • oil

You may also want a sharpie to draw a shark face on your balloons.

This experiment will look at the effects of a shark's oily bladder on a shark in the water. Follow these directions to see what happens.

  1. Place the tip of the funnel inside the top of the first balloon. Using your measuring cup, scoop some of the water out of the bowl and pour it into the balloon. You don't want a fully inflated balloon, so just enough to fill out the bottom. Tie the balloon closed. If you'd like you can now draw your shark face on the water balloon.
  2. Repeat step 1 with the second balloon, but fill it with the oil instead of water.
  3. Optional step: If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the balloons. Which balloon weighs more?
    a blue balloon with a smiley face on a silver kitchen scale. the scale reads 37.0                   a red balloon with a smiley face on a kitchen scale, the scale reads 46.1
  4. Form a hypothesis, or an educated guess about what will happen.
What will happen when you put the balloons in the bowl of water?
both balloons will sink: 1 votes (100%)
both balloons will float: 0 votes (0%)
the water balloon will float, but the oil balloon will sink: 0 votes (0%)
the oil balloon will float, but the water balloon will sink: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 1

 

  1. Put both balloons in the bowl of water.
  2. Observe what happens and make a Conclusion.
    a blue balloon floating in water in a transparent brown dish
What actually happened when you put the balloons in the bowl of water?
both balloons sank: 0 votes (0%)
both balloons floated: 0 votes (0%)
the water balloon floated, but the oil balloon sank: 0 votes (0%)
the oil balloon floated, but the water balloon sank: 1 votes (100%)
Total Votes: 1

 

A shark's oily liver can make up a large part of its weight. Oil is less dense than water, so it floats on top of water. A shark's oily bladder helps them float in the ocean instead of sinking to the bottom of the Marianas Trench!

Shark Teeth

One of the things that comes to mind when we talk about sharks is their TEETH!

Let's make our own shark jaws lined with sharp shark teeth!

For this craft you will need:

  • a paper plate
  • scissors
  • pencil and eraser (optional)

You may also need a grown up to help with using scissors.

To make your shark teeth follow these directions:

  1. Fold your paper plate in half, so that the bottom of the plate is on the outside.
  2. Using small scissors, trim away the edges of the plate in a rounded M shape on the top and bottom. You can use your pencil to draw this shape before you cut it.
  3. Cut out a large oval from the middle of the plate.
  4. Now, start cutting triangles, or shark teeth that follow the inside of the oval. Remember, shark don't have braces so their teeth can be irregular and these don't have to be perfect.

If you need some inspiration for shark teeth shapes, you can check out the UF Florida Museum's page on Shark Teeth.