DIVING NEWS
Marine trusts offer summer diversions
Picture: The Shark Trust
The Shark Trust is hoping to engage youngsters during the school summer holidays through its “activity bundles”. The charity has teamed up with education provider The Great Out-tours to produce a range of guided-learning resources inspired by sharks and rays.
“My personal passion for sharks and rays drives our focus within the activity bundles to create positive learning about these fantastic fish, and provide ideas for you to get everyone out, about and connected with the ocean,” says The Great Out-tours founder John Brooksbank. He believes that by highlighting the animals’ role in marine ecosystems, young people will be inspired to protect them.
The bundles encourage shared experiences as families work together to complete a range of indoor and outdoor activities from beachcombing to craft challenges, puzzles and videos.
The Sharks & Rays Bundle contains four sets of themed activities and resources, each one ending in a family quiz. It costs £3.50, with the 50p donated to the Shark Trust. Find it here.
There are also two “Mini Shark Bundles” at £1 each, entitled The Great Egg-Case Hunt and Thresher Sharks.
Also timed to coincide with the school holidays, the Ocean Conservation Trust (OCT) has launched its #ThinkOcean Challenge. Its eight-question online quiz is designed to reveal how young people understand and view the ocean, and the individual personality category that applies to them: Head, Heart, Hands or New Starter.
Optimistic actions specific to each personality type are then displayed, suggesting practical ways in which individuals can help to protect the ocean during their day-to-day life.
13 August 2021
“The #ThinkOcean challenge targets young people’s strengths and encourages them to use their natural abilities for good,” says the trust’s head of conservation education & communications Nicola Bridge. The OCT also intends to use the results of the challenge to develop its pro-ocean behaviour programmes for the next decade.
The charity runs the UK’s National Marine Aquarium and organises a range of international conservation projects based on ocean education and community engagement.
