All About Dolphins- Lesson Ideas

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Who loves dolphins? Who has a child (or classroom) that loves dolphins? While studying marine biology we focused on a variety of sea creatures and ecosystems and one of our favorite things we learned about was dolphins!

This dolphin lesson plan is perfect for kids pre-k - 3rd grade (ages 4 - 8) and all of it can be used at home or in small classrooms. Some games may be difficult for larger classrooms but can be easily adapted!

The Blue Planet II

Almost all of our marine biology lessons include watching clips from The Blue Planet II documentary. We can’t get enough of the stunning videography + David Attenburough’s narration. A brief warning- some episodes do show the usual “somebody gets eaten in the end” scenes and there are some tragic clips depicting ocean pollution harming wildlife.

For this lesson we watched a clip from the Blue Planet II episode 1, “One Ocean” where we get to watch cute dolphins play in the waves as soon as the episode gets rolling. I love watching them explore the coral and work together as a pod- lots of great discussion points!

Books

For marine biology lessons I always pull out this Ocean Anatomy book from one of my all time favorite nature series. I ask for Julia Rothman books for my birthday because of how much I love them. I don’t have a favorite from the series because I love them equally, but Ocean Anatomy is always a winner. Pages 66 - 73 cover different types of dolphins, and because the art style is accurate but simple we have lots of fun making our own version with watercolors.

Dolphin page from Ocean Anatomy

I have mixed feelings on The Big Book of the Blue exclusively because I think the animal’s eyes are drawn in a disconcerting style but I’ve never had it bother a child. It has some fun dolphin facts to review and is an overall fun book to learn from.

The dolphins from The Big Book of Blue.

Printables and Games

I’m a BIG fan of physical manipulatives, so this printable from our shop is a favorite to use, especially paired with these dolphin figurines. There are so many things you can do with printable cards. For littles kids (pre-k - 1st) I like to print two copies and play a fun matching game, hide the cards around the room to play I Spy, or have each kiddo pick a dolphin card and act out how they think that particular dolphin species would behave. A mentioned above, I also love to use animal figurines and match the cards to the toy, especially because this set is so realistic.

(A note on figurines- there are dozens of species of dolphins and not every figurine set is going to match up with the dolphin card set perfectly, but I have found most dolphin figurine sets match up enough with the cards so I don’t stress at all about it. An Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin and an Amazon River Dolphin figurine are going to look almost identical even if labeled differently.)

For bigger kids (2nd- 4th) I like to do all of the above (because who doesn’t want to play games?) while also researching more about the dolphin on their chosen card, discuss the visible differences between the dolphin species, and highlight the similar characteristics.

Dolphin Species Cards- Just print, cut, and go!

Another activity I like to do for the slightly bigger kids is our dolphin anatomy worksheet. It’s super easy to use and involves matching the names of the dolphin’s anatomical features to the dolphin picture. There’s an easy numbered teacher reference which makes everything a million times more organized. And, having done this worksheet at home and with at least half a dozen micro classes- it’s actually pretty fun! (I mean, who doesn’t enjoy learning there’s a part of a dolphin called a “melon”??)

Also if you don’t want to use glue sticks or sticky dots, there is room to write the term in each label spot.

Print and go Dolphin Anatomy worksheet.

The last activity that is fun for all ages but especially pertinent for younger kids is a different version of the dolphin anatomy worksheet, but using a stuffed animal instead of the worksheet dolphin. For this version you simply print out the labels (or write your own) and stick the labels directly onto a dolphin stuffie. This is great for littles because they can take turns sticking the labels on together. We happen to have this stuffie at home so that is what we used.

Dolphin stuffed animal activity. Isn’t it cute?

Who’s ready to learn about dolphins? Please tag @wooden_toadstool on Instagram so I can see your fun learning adventures!