Shells 101, Lady Lobster and Southie Treasures @ Kid's Bash

Save the Harbor's Kid's Bash and Splash was a show stopper! We pulled out all the stops, incorporating seven amazing activity stations, a barbecue lunch, and of course, our famous splash! The festivities included art, sports, fishing, kite flying, and, my favorite, the shell+ touch tank display! Imagine a beach covered in 400+ kids having the time of their little lives, then add a few more. In actuality, over 450 Boston youth came out to our kids bash!

At our shell display, 450 youth were able to explore seashells from creatures such as mussels, abalone, clams and periwinkles, to name a few. We had a seashell matching game set up to help kids learn to identify the seashells by size and shape. Most of the kids who came to the shell display couldn't even identify a mussel shell upon arrival! However, by the time they left the station, many kids were able to accurately identify plenty of different shells.

Lady lobster was also a big hit. When kids came up to the touch tank they were SHOCKED to see a REAL, LIVE lobster! Many of the kids had seen lobsters before, but usually only on dinner plates. It was interesting to be able to teach so many kids about their local decapodian mascot.

Kids were fascinated to learn that lobsters have two slightly different claws that are specialized for different duties. They liked the idea that the lobster had a big strong crusher claw in addition to a very sharp pincer claw. One child said that the different claws were like a knife and a fork!

Another favorite activity was guessing whether the lobster was male or female, then finding out how to tell for sure. For some reason, 90% of the kids were quite certain that this formidable-looking lobster HAD to be male. They were shocked to find out that she was indeed a lady lobster! The kids enjoyed touching the lobster's swimmerettes and its tail.

In addition to the lobster and shell activities, we did a special "Treasures of Southie" station, where kids could find "treasures" in a bin of sand. The treasures were in fact items such as sea glass, parts of toys, pottery pieces. It was interesting to have the kids think about the origins of the objects of their fascination. The kids enjoyed learning how beach glass was made and digging through the sand.

Before long, it was time for lunch, the splash, sea shanty singing and other activities! By the time the kids left, their bellies and minds were full of hot dogs and sea creature wisdom, respectively.

Crab Counting at Harborview

The cobbled beach at camp Harbor View is home to an interesting creature: the Asian shore crab. As its name suggests, it is an introduced species, originating in Asia and brought to North America in 1988.

Our mission today was to count, measure and determine the gender of all the crabs we could find on the beach in the rocky intertidal zone to help with a citizen science experiment led by Dr. Judy Pederson at MIT's Sea Grant.

We accomplished this by turning over cobbles and collecting all the crabs we found!

In an hour, we found 133 Asian shore crabs and 2 European green crabs on a 7 x 15 meter stretch of beach! Both of these species are non-native to Boston Harbor.

Our group had a discussion about introduced species in Boston Harbor, and the means by which these species arrive here. The young explorers were fascinated at the idea of young crabs traveling thousands of miles as planktonic larvae in the ballast water of large ships. Someone even suggested that people released their pet crabs!

All in all, the crab count was an interesting experiment!

Sheuli

Trash is Treasure on Shell Beach!

Today we visited Shell Beach at Camp Harbor View in the hopes of finding treasure! And what a treasure hunt we had! Our group searched the bases of large rocks, the shoreline and the shell-strewn beach for seaglass, strange shells, and relics from the past.

We found brilliant shards of seaglass in blue, green, brown, pink and even orange! Some of these looked like precious stones as they were polished to a superb finish by Boston Harbor's waves and sand. The explorers exclaimed that they thought these would be worth a lot of money, and were confused why someone would consider them trash!

There were SOOOO many strange shells to add to our bounty, including a long jacknife clam shell. Some of our campers had never seen the ubiquitous periwinkle and slipper shells either!

Also, we found shards of china, pottery shards and pieces of brick. We talked about how one china pattern was used at a nearby hotel, how bricks may of came from someone's home and speculated about the use of the pottery shards.

We had an interesting conversation about the origins of trash and the way waste was managed over time. We asked ourselves this question: How we will be remembered by the objects we leave behind?

All in all, we had a blast, and spent the last few minutes of our reflection time skipping stones on Boston Harbor.

Sheuli