Montessori Inspired Shark Study for Kids

My 8 year old Mavi is into sharks nowadays and asked if we can do a study about them. The last time we had a shark study was years ago, when he was 4 years old and this time he wanted to use our Shark Anatomy Model which he recently bought. This is Vito’s very first shark activity and he had so much fun learning with his big brother.


I placed some learning materials and resources in our shelf so the boys can explore these anytime. Shown are:

• Shark Anatomy Model
• Hammerhead Shark figure
• Great White Shark figure
• Grimm’s Large Ocean Waves Stacking Toy
• Shark My First Discovery Book
• Parts of a Shark Booklet (external) from Pinay Homeschooler Shop

TYPES OF SHARKS

We read about sharks and learned about the different types and species.  I was really surprised that an Eagle Ray is categorized as a shark.   I have the Shark Safari Toob figures and placed them in a tray with crystal nuggets for the boys to explore.


I made these sharks fact cards for Mavi ages ago and I made him use it again. Here he is learning the behavior, diet and habitat of a shark described in the cards and matched it to our figures. You can download a copy of these fact cards here, Shark Unit II (FREE Shark Matching and Fact Cards).


For my 3 years old, I made him match the shark figures to our picture cards.  Vito had so much fun matching, he kept on describing the figures like one has stripy cover, the other is black, one is light blue and the other is dark blue. It’s fascinating how he’s able to describe the features thoroughly! Download a copy of the shark matching cards here.



You don’t really need so much books for this. I’m glad we have this book, Sharks My First Discoveries, it’s more than enough to explore the world of sharks and it has beautiful illustrations which captivated my kids!

PARTS OF A SHARK (EXTERNAL)

We first used our Shark Definition Cards and Booklet from my shop.  I would read it to the boys and have them identify the external parts of the shark.


Vito enjoyed this activity the most. At times when he couldn’t identify the parts I would show him the picture and make him point to our shark anatomy model.


Mavi then worked on his Shark Booklet, creating his own version of the cards.

ANATOMY OF A SHARK

Mavi was obsessed in taking apart our model, and putting them all back again. Most of the time Vito observed, but there were times he wanted to work on this all by himself and created some struggle between the two boys. Now I have to remind them the art of taking turns and sharing because we only have one model and it is meant for the both of them to use.


Later that night, when Vito slept, Mavi worked on the anatomy of the shark again so he can have more focus on the model. Here I created labels for each of its internal parts and made him examine it.


He worked on the parts breezily! He asked for the purpose of the spleen though, so I made him research (Google) it.  These days, whenever he asks about something, I would tell him to Google it so he would learn how to research information on his own and will not rely on me for answers (I am not a walking encyclopedia LOL). We also discussed how different the shark’s internal organs are compared to humans’.

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