Hooked on Tide Pools

“Look, there’s a starfish,” Reggie said excitedly, pointing alongside the slippery rock.

“I found the first crab,” Matt said triumphantly.

The kids gently touched the sticky sea anemones, making them close up like bumps on the rock. They splashed a barnacle and watched it open. They found snails and chitons clinging to the rocks.

The adventure was all the better because they were making these discoveries for themselves, not in an aquarium--though those are plenty fun--but in natural tide pools along the seashore at a nearly deserted Oregon beach.

“Tide pools are made for kids. They flock to them like video arcades,” said Paul Erickson, a New England Aquarium biologist who developed a series of educational television programs on tide pools and beachcombing that have been used in schools across the country. (Teachers can call the New England Aquarium for information about the programs at 617-973-5200.)

For the uninitiated, tide pools are small rocky pockets along the ocean that hold the salt water in when the tide goes out. Some are small, others large. Entire communities of sea life live in these tide pools--sponges, snails, sea slugs, jelly fish, mussels and even octopuses. They’re an amazing array of colors, shapes and sizes: purple sea urchins, red starfish, green anemones. At low tide, they’re brimming with sea life.

“Tide pools are a world-class wilderness adventure in microcosm,” said Erickson. “You don’t have to go to Alaska or Costa Rica. It’s amazing what you’ll find right here.”

Tide pools are anywhere there’s a rocky ocean coast: at Acadia National Park in Maine or Olympic National Park in Washington; at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro or farther north at Carpinteria State Beach, just south of Santa Barbara, and at Asilomar Beach in Santa Cruz. We found the best tide pools we had ever seen just south of Newport at Seal Rock State Park.

Fall and even early winter are great times to explore tide pools, the experts say. “The crowds are gone,” Erickson said.

Even better, this is one family outing that doesn’t cost anything nor does it require more than an afternoon. Just make sure to wear sneakers, bring extra clothes (the kids are likely to get wet) and a first-aid kit. Check the tides (low tide is the best), grab a pocket tide pool guidebook for the region and head out to the beach.

Tide-pooling is also a great way to get the kids excited about science. “Science is about looking at the world and making connections,” said Gary Widdison, a former California science teacher who now produces interactive science videos for Los Angeles schools.

“If kids can experience science for themselves, those are the lessons they retain,” he said.

Many marine scientists were first hooked on the ocean by exploring tide pools as kids, Erickson said, adding that reading the Eyewitness series book could be helpful: “The Seashore” by Steve Parker (Knopf, $12.95).

Take time to visit an aquarium so everyone will recognize what they are seeing. Both the New England Aquarium in Boston and the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, for example, have state-of-the-art tide pool exhibits and touch pools. The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro and the Sea Center at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara also have large touch pools.

But don’t be deterred if there’s not a tide pool around. Any sandy beach can prove to be fertile exploring territory, Erickson said. His own childhood explorations along the Long Island and New Jersey coasts ultimately steered him toward a career in science. “We stuck our heads underwater with a snorkel. and we were there for two weeks,” looking at tiny fish, crabs and seaweed. “I got hooked on science right there.”

“Tide-pooling also is a way to teach children respect for all living creatures,” Erickson said. “They won’t find cuddly things here, but all kinds of strange creatures that they might even have trouble believing are alive.”

Because tide pools are full of living creatures, it’s important to teach children “tide pool etiquette,” as well as some safety rules before heading out.

Rocks are slippery and huge waves can sneak up. “If it’s a rough day, don’t go near the water,” Erickson said. Leave before the tide comes in.

And don’t let the kids take any of the sea creatures home. This will kill the creatures.

Gary Widdison uses the one-finger rule with his five kids: Only touch a sea creature with one finger. Never rip a snail or other animal from the rocks. Be gentle, he advises, and teach the children to leave everything the way they found it.

Taking the Kids appears weekly.