Science Journal: Blue Whale

The Blue Whale 

Fun Facts:

1. A mammal
2. Length: 98ft
3. Weight: 200 tons which is equal 
4. to 400,000 lbs.
5. The largest animals ever on earth
6. Eat ballen
7. Carnivores
8.  Can eat 40 million krill 
9. Life span is about 90 years
10. They come to the surface to breath
11. 12% of their length is their flipper
12. A pod is a group of whales
13. They have about a 20inch blowhole

Many children (and adults) have a hard time visualizing different measurements. Telling a child that the Blue Whale is the biggest animal on earth with a record length of up to 108ft may not mean much to them. They might compare that to being as tall as the tower they built earlier, or as heavy as a million elephants. To help children understand the concept of size it would be beneficial to use a scale of measurement that they are able to understand, an example of that would be themselves. 

In class we decided to do a similar activity. We knew the whale is 98ft, but how long is that really. We came up with the question of how many college students equals the length of a Blue Whale. First we had to measure 98ft in the hallway. Once we knew where it started and ended, we all began to lay down onto the floor to see how many of us it took to equal the length. We came to the conclusion that it takes 17 college students to equal the size of a Blue Whale.

Measuring the 98ft Blue Whale

Length=17 college students

The activity that we did in class is something that can easily be done with children as well. Children will have an exciting time learning about the whales, as well as realizing how big the whale really is. Here is a video of a class using and actual foot to measure the length of a Blue Whale.