Pop-up Barnacle
Pop-up Barnacle
Purpose of activity:
To learn about a common, but often overlooked, member of the ocean community: the barnacle. These creatures are downright fascinating. (Also, this activity provides good practice for following instructions, and cutting and gluing skills.)
Description of activity:
The barnacle pops up when you open the page and its cirripeds come out. When you close the page, the cirripeds retract into the shell. This simulates the feeding behavior of a real barnacle. There is also a small lift-the-flap diagram of the inner anatomy of a barncacle. (The anatomy is simplified a bit, and the very long “penis” not labeled as such. The barnacle is a hermaphrodite, having both male and female parts. The male organ is not very similar at all to the similar organ found in mammals.) There is a picture of a larva to cut out and glue in place, also.
Target age group:
Ages 8-12
Time needed:
15-30 minutes (it depends on how much coloring they do)
Materials you will need:
Copies of the pattern pages (card stock or regular paper), colored pencils or crayons (I always recommend Berol Prismacolor pencils), scissors, white glue or glue stick
