Marine Life Center
Get a feel for
Local Marine Life
View - Explore - Touch
See what lurks beneath the bay!
Marine Life Center
Bellingham, WA
Marine Education
One of the main goals of The Marine Life Center is to provide marine education. Our aquatic displays and hands-on touch tank introduce children and parents to our local marine flora and fauna. The school programs, developed by our educational marine staff, focus on using inquiry and a hands-on approach to learning.
Programs: PreK - Kindergarten & Grades 1-12
I. Touch Pool Exploration: Ages 2-6
Youngsters are invited to touch and learn about seashore animals from Puget Sound and the outer coast of Washington. This class introduces children to sea animals lacking bones such as sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, chitons and snails.
Three to five animals are temporarily on display in clear buckets. Children hear the names of these curious animals and learn a few interesting facts about how the animal moves, eats and protects itself. Dip your hands into our cool, salty touch pool and hold a hermit crab.
II. Sea Stars, Urchins & Hermit Crabs Oh my!: Ages 4-6
Explore the aquarium in a guided program led by one or our instructors. Children are invited to touch and learn as many more animals are accessible to curious children during these educational programs. We explain how to differentiate a boy crab from a girl crab, describe how a hermit crab selects a new shell, and discover where a sea star’s mouth is located and how a sea star eats. Activities also include songs and story telling.
III. Seashore Survival: Grades 1-5
Students will conduct hands-on inquiry investigations with live seashore animals that have no backbones (invertebrates). Meet the slimy, sticky and prickly, and learn about the places where they live, their adaptations to intertidal life and how invertebrates camouflage themselves in order to ward off predators. Students will brainstorm how animals have adapted to life underwater and learn the importance of ocean conservation. Activities include drawing sea animals they see at the center or a walk on the dock for discovery of intertidal sea life.
IV. Eelgrass Aquarium Adventures: Grades 4-12
Discover an eelgrass meadow and learn how this local underwater ecosystem supports a variety of sea life. Waving green ribbons of eelgrass create a calm, protective nursery. Pop up in an aquarium bubble to see the various animals that live within this aquatic environment. Within eelgrass meadows, there is food and shelter for a wide variety of sea anemones, marine worms, snails, limpets, crabs and fish. Students learn how they are linked to the marine food web.
V. Life on the Edge: Grades 4 -12
Groups gather around a 1,500 gallon observation pool and peer into the depths. Shelves descend in depth from one side of the pool to the other. This program includes a guided visit of the marine life that lives in the subtidal zone (the area below where the tide goes in and out). This includes anemones in the shallower step, but also encompasses starry flounders, rockfish, gunnels, sculpins and dungeness crabs in the deeper depths.
Look closely and students will also view the amazing grunt sculpin, cabezon and buffalo sculpin. Children will see and touch marine life living in local Washington waters. Following a brief moment of silence, students will be asked to think about how they can help take care of the wonderful sea weed and beautiful animals living in the sea.
How to Schedule Your Program
Registration
Call or email the Marine Life Center at (360) 671-2431, Monday - Friday, 8 am-4 pm. Please be ready with school name, address, phone number, teacher's name, email address, grade level, number of students/class, program choice, and preferred dates and times.
- One adult chaperone for every five students is required.
- Check with staff upon entry for information about designated eating areas.
- Reserve a minimum of 3-4 weeks in advance of your desired date.
- Reservations are confirmed by email within one week. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please call.
- Cancellations must be made at least one week in advance.
- Students/class: PreK through Kindergarten: 10-25; Grades 1-12; 10-32.
- All exhibits are wheelchair accessible.
Admission Fees
Adults $1.00
Children ages 2 - 18 - $1.75 each