Oceans Day 6 -Cephalopods

Cephalopods (Octopus & Squid)

Read: Pages 26-27 in Oceans by Johanna Rizzo.

Discuss: Octopus and squid are cephalopods. They are soft-bodied animals that live in the water. They are also invertebrates, which means animals without backbones. They can change the color of their skin to camouflage them from predators. They move by squirting water from their mantel through the siphon. They can also squirt a dark ink at an attacker to allow them to escape. 

Paper Bag Octopus

Discuss:

Octopus means “eight feet”. Octopuses live alone on the ocean floor in dens or under rocks. There are over 100 different kinds of octopuses. They can range from 1 cm to 23 ft long. Each of the octopuses eight arms has 2 rows of suction cups. If an octopus loses an arm is will regrow another arm. An octopus cannot hear but has very good eyesight. It has an eye on each side of it's head. They are carnivores and catch their prey with their long arms.

Materials:

• Small brown paper bag
• Two googly eyes
• Blue marker
• Newspaper
• String
• Glue
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Crumple up newspaper and fill the bottom of the paper bag.
2. Twist the paper bag together where it is filled and tie the bag shut with string. (this is the octopus head)
   
3. Glue the two googly eyes onto the octopus and use marker to draw a smile on under the eyes.
4. Cut the loose part of the bag into eight strips for the legs.
5. Use your marker to draw circles onto each of the legs for the suction cups.
   
   
    

Octopus Hot Dog Lunch

Ingredients:

Hotdogs

Ketchup

Velveeta Cheesy Shells

Directions:

Slice ¾ of the hot dog in half longwise, then into quarters, and then into eighths for the 8 legs.

Add the ketchup for a smile and eyes.

Serve over Velveeta cheesy shells.

Drawing Cephalopods
J drew an Octopus and a Squid on pages 12 and 28 from It's Fun to Draw Sea Creatures by Mark Bergin.

 

Squid Craft

Discuss: A squid can range in size from 1 foot to 60 feet long. They have a mantle head, eight arms with suckers, 2 long feeding tentacles, a beak, 2 large eyes, and 2 hearts. They have gills for breathing too. Parts of a squid include; mantle, fins, legs, clubs, head, feeding tentacles, siphon, and eyes.

Materials:

• Paper Towel Tube
• Yarn
• Googly Eyes
• Straw
• Scissors
• Glue
• Stapler
• Markers
• Tape

Directions:

1. Cut the paper towel tube in half.
2. Color both parts of the tube a solid color.
   
3. Flatten one end of one tube and cut a point at that end for the mantle.
4. Cut 2 small triangles from one of the cut off portions and color them.
5. Staple them into the slits on the folded end of the tube so it makes a right angle on each side with a point on the top (the fins).
   
6. Take the second part of the tube and cut the legs at one end, 8 legs.
7. Curl up the legs around the marker.
   
   
8. Take the other cut off portion to form 2 clubs with points for the squid.
9. Tape a 5 inch piece of yarn to the flat side of each club.
10. Tape them inside the tube for the feeding tentacles.
    
11. Cut the straw to about 5 inches and tape it inside the first tube facing down on one side for the siphon.
    
12. Place the first piece of tube on top of the second piece of tube with the straw sticking out.
13. Glue on the googly eyes to the bottom half of the squid.