April 3rd, 2015

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Post Number 7

My Seabed Friends

 

Hello Everyone

     

Last week, l told you about the mermaids that often visit my lighthouse, but actually there are lots of other creatures that live around my lighthouse home as well.

 

There are starfish and crabs and lobsters and seahorses and jellyfish and many more. There is a big octopus that lives in the secret cave under the lighthouse and of course lots and lots of fish.

 

Actually, now l have told you about the cave l guess that it isn’t a secret anymore!

 

Last night, l was reading my Sailor’s Book of Knowledge while l was snuggled up beside by pot-bellied stove. lt is a really interesting book to read. You can take it with you on long voyages and learn lots of interesting things when there is nothing much else to do – like for instance when you are becalmed. That means that there is no wind and your sailing boat won’t move.

 

Anyway, these are some interesting facts l learnt. Would you like to hear them?

 

As you already know starfish have five arms, these arms are actually called rays. Starfish don’t have blood like people do; they use sea water to pump things around their bodies. The biggest starfish in the world are 1 metre across. The biggest crabs in the world are up to 4 metres across; but they live in Japan, not around here thank goodness!

 

Crabs usually walk sideways. But some crabs walk forwards or backwards. You can tell the girls from the boys because girls have straight lines across their under-shells and the boys have a triangle in theirs. Crabs have two claws, one bigger than the other. The bigger one is for fighting and the smaller one is for eating. lf they lose one it can grow back!

 

A lobster’s front claws are the same size as each other. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws. A lobster finds its way around by smell. lts teeth are in its stomach, its kidneys are in its head and it has blue blood.

 

Seahorses are a kind of fish that swims upright, but very, very slowly. Their heads look like a horse’s head and they have long tails that can hold onto things like seaweed, then they can go to sleep and not drift off in the current.

 

Octopuses are really interesting. They have 2 eyes, 4 pairs of arms with suction cups that can cling onto things and 3 hearts that pump their blue blood. They have no skeleton, so can squeeze through really small places and are so intelligent that in scientific experiments have shown that they can even open jars so that they can get to the food inside.

 

And what about jelly fish?

 

Well, some of them can actually glow in the dark!

 

lf you want a jellyfish, seahorse or starfish friend you can make one from my website.

 

l’ll be back with more ripping yarns next week.

 

 

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

 

Love and kisses

 

 

Salty Sam

www.christina-sinclair.com 

 

 

 

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

 

Bill:  What kind of ’phone does a crab use?

 

Bob:  l don’t know. What kind of ’phone does a crab use?

 

Bill:  A shell ’phone!

 

 

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

 

 Picture Gallery

  

Giant Japanese Spider Crab 

 

A seahorse

 

An octopus 

 

 These flat fish like to stay near the seabed

The bottom one looks like he’s got a grumpy face

 

 Jellyfish come in many different shapes and sizes

 

They swim by moving their bodies up and down  

 

 Their bodies are translucent  

  

These jellyfish are found in mangrove swamps 

 

 They are called upside-down jellyfish

  

They are called upside-down jellyfish because they float with their tentacles upwards

  

These boarfish are found in the eastern Atlantic

 

 Japanese spider crabs are the biggest crabs in the world

 

 An African rainbow crab

 
 

There are many fish in the sea around my lighthouse home

 

  

      THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

 

At the top of the quay (pronounced key) on the mainland is an old inn called the Rusty Anchor which is run by the landlord, Reg. During opening time, this inn overlooking the Rocky Bay Harbour, is always full of local residents and passing sailors.  There are also many tourists who swell the numbers of Rocky Bay in the summer season.

There is a lovely atmosphere in the pub and Reg is very welcoming to all who come in through the front door.

He is also good at laying on a variety of entertainments.

There is a skittles alley in the back room.  It can get quite noisy in there sometimes so it is in a separate room from the seating area around the bar.

There is a darts board on the wall and Reg keeps packs of playing cards and sets of dominoes behind the bar that people can borrow.

There are also regular quiz nights and karaoke evenings as well.  The tourists are quite welcome to join in and win prizes.

  

 

One of the things you will notice when you go into the Rusty Anchor is the mermaid figure head that Reg has propping up the bar.

It used to adorn the front of a very old ship once and Reg thought it would be the perfect thing to finish off the décor of the inside of his establishment.

The locals love gathering in the snug on a cold winter’s evening, but there are plenty of benches and tables outside along the harbour wall in the summer time.

There is a good selection of pub grub for families to choose from when they come here for their holidays and want lunch or afternoon tea.

I thought you might like to see what the Rusty Anchor looks like so here is a picture of it.

 

 

 

If you would like to learn more about marine conservation then check out the Marine Conservation Society website at:

 http://www.mcsuk.org/coolseas/

Or Sea Changers website at:

http://www.sea-changers.org.uk/index.php

 

 

And lastly a Happy Easter to you all!

 

Spring comes to Rocky Bay

 

All the children in Rocky Bay are looking forward to eating their chocolate eggs on Sunday (I expect you are too) and joining in with the festivities in the town.

 

 

There will be an Easter egg hunt, best Easter bonnet competition and the Rocky Bay and Sandy Cove seaside entertainments will be opening for the new summer season.

 

 

New blog posts are published every Friday morning. Tell all your friends that they are welcome to come and join in the fun too.

And if you would like to see more pictures of some of the huge variety of fascinating creatures that live under the sea you can check out my pinboard at:

https://www.pinterest.com/TheSaltySamBlog/under-the-sea/

 

Me writing my blog

 

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PLEASE CONTACT:

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Quick Quiz

 

1. Which are the cleverest animals?
2. Which land animal can run the fastest?
3. Which is the biggest land animal?
4. Which is the tallest land animal?
5. Which is the slowest land animal?
6. Which is the biggest cat?

 

  

 

 

BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!

 

PLUS

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lt’s the Weekend!

 

 
HOW TO MAKE A TOY SEAHORSE

 

If you would like to make a seahorse toy, there is a pattern that you can download from

www.christina-sinclair.com 

ANOTHER IDEA

You can make the seahorses into a mobile to hang over a baby’s cot.

  

 

Use either two wooden rods tied together or a wire hoop and tie lots of different colour seahorses to it so that they are swimming about in the air. Remember to tie everything securely and sew or glue on some felt eyes and ears securely because a baby won’t like being bumped on the head by wild sea horses if they fall down into the cot!

 

 
ANOTHER IDEA

You can make colourful seahorse pencil tops out of felt to sit on your pencils.

 

 

1. Draw a seahorse shape onto a piece of paper making sure that the base from under the back fin is 2¼cm/9/10 inch across.
2. Use this as a pattern so that all your felt shapes will be the same size and shape.
3. Cut 2 pieces of felt for each pencil top.
4. Embroider a French knot at the side of the face on both pieces to make an eye.
5. Using coloured embroidery thread (in single strands), sew along the edge using blanket stitch – but not across the bottom.
6. Put a couple of extra stitches at each end in order to strengthen your seam.
7. Incorporate the back fin detail and mouth as you sew round.

 

 
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use or for use in classrooms only.

It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.

Use of all of the toys and projects on this blog is at your own risk.

©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015

 

www.christina-sinclair.com

 

 

 

  

Quick Quiz Answers

 

1. people
2. cheetah
3. elephant
4. giraffe
5. sloth
6. tiger

 

Cheetahs

 

A sloth 

 

A tiger cub

 

 

Wildscreen Arkive

have some wonderful films about nature 

Checkout: 

http://www.arkive.org/common-starfish/asterias-rubens/videos.html

http://www.arkive.org/common-shore-crab/carcinus-maenas/videos.html

http://www.arkive.org/common-lobster/homarus-gammarus/videos.html

http://www.arkive.org/common-octopus/octopus-vulgaris/videos.html

 

 

Embroidery Stitches