Family Fun Fest

Hi all

I had a great time hosting the “Bella’s “Bear” Necessities” station at Biscayne National Park’s family Fun Fest on Sunday! It was a beautiful day, and I got to help teach hundreds of people about the Seven Basic Principles of Ocean Literacy.

Ranger Gary, who coordinates the event (this is the tenth year!) had my station set up so that kids took a tour through the seven principles at 7 mini-stations, one for each principle. The mini-stations each contained a short simple activity or demonstration of that principle

Do you know what the seven principles are? Take a look below to find out and also how I helped to teach people about them.

Mini station 1  
                                                                                                                                                              The Earth has one big ocean with many features. Using a globe, participants ran their finger around the planet without touching land and without taking their finger off the globe. They found out that all the oceans are connected!

Mini station 2
The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of the Earth. Using sugar cubes and water-filled syringes, kids demonstrated how rock the sugar cubes) can get eroded by water. Shorelines all over the world have been sculpted in this way.

Mini station 3
The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. Using a jar with a glass top, we demonstrated the water cycle of evaporation, condensation and rain. Most of the rain that falls to earth originates in the oceans…even in places far from the sea.

Mini station 4
The ocean makes Earth habitable. Using microscopes, participants looked at phytoplankton to see the sources of most of the Earth’s oxygen. Did you know that about half of the oxygen we breathe comes from
plants that live in the ocean? That’s every other breath we take that we owe to the ocean!

Mini station 5
The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. Most of the actual living space on Earth is in the oceans. While land offers a mostly flat surface where things can live, the average ocean depth offers 22 times the amount of living space. We used blocks to represent the amount of living space in each habitat.

Mini station 6
The ocean and humans are inextricably connected. We used a large gift wrapped box containing examples of how the ocean provides us with food, medicine, energy, jobs, transportation, security, recreation and inspiration. What a gift the ocean gives us!

Mini station 7
The ocean is largely unexplored. We had three cans with a picture in each that could be viewed through a soda straw. Since very little of the image could be seen through the straw, most people could not tell
what the image was. Similarly, by only seeing a small part of the ocean, we really don’t know much about it. The pictures were of things only discovered recently in the ocean, like black smokers (deep sea features) and the barreleye fish.

You can learn more about the Seven Principles of Ocean Literacy at http://oceanliteracy.wp.coexploration.org/ (but its not as much fun as discovering it yourself !) Good thing there are events like Family Fun Fest to make learning fun!

Well I had so much fun and so did the people visiting the mini stations. If anyone reading this message came to the FAmily Fun Fest, leave a message bellow and tell me what you thought about the event and what you found out. That would be awesome!

Bye for now, Bella Bear

Bella arrives in Biscayne National Park, Florida

Hi all.

I arrived at Biscayne National Park this week. The park is located in South Florida, and I am told it is the largest marine park in the US National Park System. It protects mangrove forests, clear bay waters, the northernmost Florida Keys, a portion of the world's third-largest coral reef, and over 10,000 years of human history. Wow!

I heard it is usual for visitors to the park to have their picture taken at the park entrance sign (to show that they have been there).

So, not wanting to be different, here I am.

When I arrived, I ran straight to the beautiful blue waters of Biscayne Bay, a wide, shallow estuary. (I found out that the average depth was 2-3 meters deep).

It was so beautiful and relaxing sitting on the bench after my journey from the UK. So much to see I started to get fidgety and I kept looking at the mangrove trees along the shoreline. My brother Ed explored some mangrove trees in Hawaii so I just had to get in there to check them out for myself.

The mangrove trees (I later found out these were red mangrove trees) can survive with their roots in saltwater. This helps to stabilize the shoreline so it doesn’t get washed away and protects the land behind as well. Not just that, the roots provides great hiding places for fish, crabs, shrimp and loads of other creatures. Sitting among the roots was a really cool experience.

But I just wanted to know more, so I headed into the Visitor Center to talk to the rangers. On my way in, I saw the sign for Family Fun Fest coming this Sunday. That is the main reason I have travelled to Biscayne National Park...I will be the guests of honor at one of the activity stations at the event. I can't wait!

It is a monthly event now in its 10th year, and draws kids and families from throughout South Florida. This month's theme is "Liter-a-Sea: Oceans of Knowledge" and focuses on how the ocean affects just about everything that happens on Planet Earth. This is great because this is Ed's message too. I will be hosting the station called "Bella's Bear Necessities, all about the 7 basic principles of ocean literacy.

I was anxious to learn more about the park in case visitors asked questions, so I hurried inside the visitor center where I met Rangers Maria and Abby. They were sooooo nice! This is me with ranger Maria.

And below you can see me with Ranger Abby.

They explained how the park's four main ecosystems work together to provide habitats for loads of plants and animals. I bet you didn't know that 95% of the park is covered by water? I didn't until the Ranger Abby told me.

The beautiful exhibits did a great job of explaining about each ecosystem, and the rangers were always willing to help me with questions.

This an amazing coral reef display

There was lots of interesting information about the coral reef in the park as well. Very useful if I get asked questions about this. I watched a short film about the park, then explored Touch Table...

What fun to get to see corals, horseshoe crabs, drift seeds, seashells, skulls and bones up close!

And guess what, I earned a junior ranger badge.

My trip from England was long and tiring, but it was also kind of cramped, so before I left, I made sure to stretch my legs a bit more. Outside, I found a very strange looking tree. It had reddish-orange peeling bark, but there was deep green underneath. It is called a gumbo limbo tree, and is very common in the maritime hardwood forests on the park's islands.

Jumbo limbo trees can photosynthesise with their bark (use sunlight to make food like most plants do with their leaves). So when hurricanes come along and blow all the leaves off the trees, they still have a way to feed themselves. What a great adaptation for a tree that lives in such a stormy area!

Well, I've got to get some rest before Sunday's big event, so that's all for now. Come back for more later! Bella