We Can Inspire Our Kids to Become Ocean Ambassadors
From clean-ups to art activities to local activism, our starter guide helps instill a love of the ocean the entire family can get behind.
The ocean is the incubator of life, home to more than 200,000 known species and millions more unidentified organisms. Yet we know more about outer space than the vast underwater world right in our backyard.
Ever since the United Nations declared June 8th World Ocean Day in 2002, people from around the globe have marked the day to celebrate the ocean and take steps to protect it. With ever-mounting catastrophes brought on by climate change, plastic pollution and biodiversity loss, the ocean’s ecosystem, coastal communities— and our kids futures— are being threatened to the brink.
As a mother, it just about breaks me to think about a system that’s taken four billion years to evolve has been destabilized in less than a century, and that my generation was one of the big causes of it. That’s why we need to work together with our kids to create solutions for their future, not just hand them a planet on fire— or a drowning one. As Bill McKibben said at an event with Outside Magazine at the Mountain Film Fest, “Young people lack by themselves the structural power to make change in the time we need with the time that we have.” So it’s up to us—the Olds—to step up and turn the tide.
The ocean holds endless blue solutions— absorbing 90% of the planet’s warming from greenhouse gasses, producing powerful offshore energy, and coastal ecosystems like reefs and mangroves providing protection and uplifting local economies. And while the littlest of our kids may not yet understand offshore wind or marine reserves, they certainly can connect the dots between plastic straws hurting their favorite sea creatures.
That’s why we’ve created an ocean starter guide for families— both from home and when we travel— to ignite a curiosity and inspire bigger systemic change. It may seem like a drop in a bucket, but when our kids see us making an effort, it will be the most natural thing in the world to them, swimming in the same current together.
Join a Beach Cleanup
Or a river cleanup, a park, or a lake cleanup. If you don’t see one, gather your friends and start one! Beyond empowering our kids to learn about cause and effect, it’s a chance to be a part of a generosity cycle by contributing to the community, and they’re instilled with a sense of pride and belonging. Find a beach cleanup in your area with Surfrider Foundation, Surfrider Europe, Sea Shepherd, Surfers Against Sewage in the U.K., Clean Up Australia, Shoreline Cleanups in Canada, and Heyterra changemaker beach cleaner in Germany.
For the future citizen scientists in your house, you can even track your marine debris and report your findings to any one of a group of apps. Debris Tracker, The Ocean Cleanup and Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell are good places to start.
2. Online Education + Activities
For kids who don’t have access to the coast, there is a wealth of great interactive online options available. Check out National Geographic Kids, the stunning Google Ocean Street View, or any of the activities happening online or in person on the WOD website.
Many aquariums offer livestream webcams so you can enjoy our ocean friends from wherever you are. We love the Jelly Cam and the Kelp Forest Cam from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California.
The NOAA also has a wide variety of resources and activities for kids of all ages that help make learning more interactive and engaging. Check out their website full of activity books, thematic video series, games, hands-on science experiments and more.
A good old fashioned movie also can spark curiosity. Re-watch the Little Mermaid, level up to nature documentaries like BBC’s Blue Planet or Disney Nature: Oceans to see our favorite animations IRL.
3. Make Ocean Art
The ability to be creative is vital to the success of our children and the well-being of our world. Art inspires creative problem solving and out of the box thinking, all necessary for our young scientists, engineers, teachers and activists in a world that requires innovative solutions to problems.
For the Little Ones
When it’s applied to the ocean, the options are limitless. Try upcycling a project from ocean plastic, make crafts with sand or make a seashell mosaic. Create ocean-themed sensory bins and origami sea animals— preferably using materials you already have at home!
For Older Kids
Contemporary artists around the world are creating powerful art that not only illuminates the ocean’s mysteries, but also spotlights the devastating effects of human impact. Alejandro Durán, a multimedia artist from Mexico City, made his Washed Up series revealing beautifully-stylized settings of trash in marine habitats. Courtney Mattison creates massive ceramic sculptures that explore the diversity and fragility of coral reefs, and Portuguese artist Vanessa Barragão creates gorgeous textile rugs, and large-scale wall hangings that address the scale at which the textile industry pollutes the ocean. Muralist, illustrator and friend of Heyterra Priscilla Witte makes pop art with a wink— we love her surf-and street-inspired designs that remind us of the joy the ocean and coastal culture give us.
4. Learn How to Minimize Plastic Usage
We’ll say it again: every year, over 400 million tons of plastic is produced worldwide– one-third of which is single-use. That is the equivalent of over 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic is dumped into our oceans, rivers, and lakes each day. We are so inundated with plastic that microplastics— plastic’s baby particles— are finding their way into the food we eat, the water we drink, and even the air we breathe, from snow flurries in the Alps to our bloodstream. This is no world for our kids. We need all hands on deck, to break the cycle and lean into a truly circular economy.
Luckily there really is still hope. A recent UN Environment Program report shows that it is possible to reduce our plastic dependency by a whopping 80% if we work now to pivot to this new possible future.
For the Little Ones
Smaller steps like bringing your own straws to restaurants or giving your kids their own reusable shopping bags make the shift more manageable and fun. Bonus points that straws can act as de facto toys! Read our Sustainable Swaps for On-the-Go Families for some simple alternatives.
For Older Kids
More scaleable goals like the 30 day no-plastic challenge can be fun for tweens and teens. We’ve partnered with beach cleaner and their Kids for the Ocean book bringing easy ideas and community engagement for middle and high schoolers, like engaging your school to quit single use plastic, plastic data collecting and smaller cleanups they can start themselves.
5. Youth Activism + Orgs
42% of people in the world are under 25, which makes kids so extremely powerful.
Learning about what young ocean activists around the world are doing can reframe possibilities for our kids at home. Boyan Slat was just 16 years old when he dedicated a school project to cleaning up plastic from the ocean. Now, his organization The Ocean Cleanup scales tech and solutions aimed at removing 90% of floating ocean plastic pollution.
Oluwaseyi Moejoh, a 20-year-old law student in Lagos, Nigeria, started the U-recycle Initiative Africa to encourage students to sign up for challenges ranging from cleanups to ditching plastic straws. And 18-year old Fionn Ferriera from Cork, Ireland, developed a ground-breaking approach to removing microplastics from the ocean using non‐toxic chemicals and magnets to separate plastic from water.
There are so many instances of young Changemakers to meet and connect with, inspiring our kids at home to be the change they want to see in the world.
Other Organizations to Connect With
Check out Oh-Wake, a magazine about ocean protection and climate activism through the Lonely Whale organization, or add your voice to The Ocean Voices Project spotlighting people of all ages talk about their connections to the ocean. Changing Tides Foundation in Southern California empowers women and girls in the water, Ocean Generation’s Wavemaker Program translates complex ocean science and incubates innovation for 16-25 year olds.
Harnessing the power of both the ocean and our interconnected ideas can inspire us all to keep the waves rolling— and create lasting change.
Other Ways Parents Can Help
+Switch to reef-friendly sunscreen or better yet, UPF clothing.
+Support ocean-friendly restaurants and shops in your community.
+Take steps to lower your family’s carbon footprint.
+Ensure your local aquarium is a source of marine research, rehabilitation and education rather than employing unethical practice and speak up if not.
