Explore the underwater world, with the Explore Your World backpack underwater explorer boat

What is the Explore Your World backpack?
The Explore Your World Backpack kit is available for free at any Sarasota County Library.

The Explore Your World backpack kit is one of three backpacks designed by UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County in partnership with Sarasota County Libraries. It is designed to help explorers of all ages get outside and explore their world.

Each Explore Your World kit packs all you’ll need to get started, including items, books, and activities designed to inspire exploration for all ages… from your neighborhood to nature! Available for free check-out at all Sarasota County Libraries locations, this kit is a fun and educational option for families with children or relatives with visiting children. Includes the activity guide in Spanish.

The Underwater Explorer Boat
The Underwater Explorer Boat

The underwater explorer boat is a tool in the Explore Your World backpack kit. It is a toy boat with a magnifying lens built into the bottom. Learn more by watching the video below.

 

Fun activities with the Underwater Explorer Boat:
The Beach Taxonomist

Scientists group living things into different categories based on shared characteristics. This is called taxonomy. For example, animals are divided into two taxonomic groups based on whether they have a backbone (vertebrates) or not (invertebrates). YOU can create your own taxonomic groups with the underwater explorer boat at home or at one of our beautiful Sarasota County beaches:

  1. Use your Underwater Explorer boat to gather at least 10 shells and lay them all out.

    Sorting shells with the Underwater Explorer Boat
  2. Choose a characteristic to classify your shells. Will you classify them by size? By color? By shape? It is up to you!
  3. Divide your shells into their two groups.
    • Were there any shells that did not fit into any group?
    • Can you divide each group into another group?
  4. Use the Florida Seashore Life field guide from the Explore Your World backpack to identify what kind of shells you have found!

 

The Bucket Investigator
  1. Fill a bucket with water
  2. Ask a friend, parent, or guardian to throw 10 parent-approved toys into the bucket
  3. Use your Underwater Explorer Boat to discover all the items in the bucket!

 

The Home Taxonomist
  1. Gather 10 of your favorite toy animals.

    Stuffed animals classified by whether or not they had tails.
  2. Choose a characteristic to classify your toy animals. Will you classify them by size? By color? By shape? It is up to you!
  3. Divide your toy animals into their two groups.
    • Were there any toys that did not fit into any group?
    • Can you divide each group into another group?

 

Take our survey for a chance to win a free prize!

Once you explore all the fun items inside, take the survey on the back of the activity guide to enter a drawing for a chance to win a prize!

An Equal Opportunity Institution. UF/IFAS Extension, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension. Sarasota County prohibits discrimination in all services, programs or activities. View the complete policy at www.scgov.net/ADA.
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Posted: January 1, 2021


Category: Coasts & Marine, Natural Resources, Recreation, Water
Tags: Activitykit, Beach, Environment, Explore Your World, Explore Your World Backpack, Nature, Pgm_EcoNR, Recreation, Science, Water


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