Try this to have a "whale" of a good time: Adult gray whales reach 45 feet in length and their newborns are about 15 feet.  Cut pieces of string to match your height.  Then measure and cut a 45 foot length and a 15 foot length.  You can see how much larger than you the adult whale and baby whale are.  Just think!  Blue whales can grow to a length of 100 feet!

Waves are not caused by some force within the water.  They are caused by the wind blowing across the surface of the water.  Prove it with this activity:

You will need:   A large, flat pan that holds 3-4 inches of water. An electric table fan (if an adult is present) or a paper fan   Begin by making predictions about what will happen when the fan blows across the water's surface.   After recording some predictions, let the fan blow at low speed.  Discuss answers to the following questions: Were there waves?  Did the water "bunch up" at the far end of the pan?  Did the water slosh out of the pan?   Try different fan speeds and discuss the results.

Moving Drop   Purpose: To show the force between little drops of water.   Materials:      1-foot sheet of wax paper                     Toothpick                     1-eyedropper                     water   Steps 1.  Spread the wax paper on the table. 2.  Use the eyedropper to place three or four little drops of      water. 3.  Make the toothpick wet with water. 4.  Bring the end of the wet pick near, but not touching, one of the water drops.   Results:  The drop moves toward the toothpick.   Why?                                                                                             Water molecules have an attraction for each other.  This attraction is strong enough to make the water move over towards the water on the toothpick.  The attraction of the water molecules for each other is due to the fact that each molecule has a negative side and a positive side.  The positive side of one molecule attracts the negative side of another molecule.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE WITH WATER   If you like to draw, you can have fun with this.  Make drawings of what these popular WATER "sayings" would really look like.  Put them in a book to share with others.   I`M IN HOT WATER.          YOU`RE WET BEHIND THE EARS.   DON`T CHANGE HORSES IN MID-STREAM.   JUMP IN WITH BOTH FEET.        MAKE A BIG SPLASH.   WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS.       A DROP IN THE BUCKET.   ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER.    GET YOUR FEET WET.       IT`S DOWN THE DRAIN.      HIS MIND IS IN A FOG.   SHE WAS CRYING BUCKETS.         SHE GAVE AN ICY STARE.   IT`S ALL WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE.       BREAK THE ICE.   STILL WATERS RUN DEEP.   SHE'S ALL STEAMED UP.     IT WAS RAINING CATS AND DOGS.    WET YOUR WHISTLE.   IT WAS LIKE WATER OFF A DUCK`S BACK.   Can you think of anymore?

WRITE A SHORT STORY   Read some stories about pirates.  Treasure Island is a very good choice.  Then you can write a short story about a sea journey aboard a pirate ship in the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1700.  The captain's name is "One-eyed Jack."       WORD SCRAMBLE   Try to unscramble these letters to find words used in stories about Pirates.       1. C R I A Y P     2. B A C E L D K B A R     3. S U E R A E T R     4. N A T P A I C     5. L O G D     6. U A E R B C E N C     7. E V I S R L     8. K A L N P     9. Y O A G E V   10. L S U K L   11. V E E S I T H   12. N E C O S B S S R O           Answers 1. piracy , 2.  blackbeard, 3. treasure, 4. captain, 5. gold, 6. buccaneer, 7. silver, 8. plank, 9. voyage, 10. skull, 11. thieves, 12. crossbones

Use the information on the Communicating With Flags page to decode the following messages:

Can you make more messages of your own?