Tide Pool Animals Printable Worksheets & Activities

Published:
April 1, 2020

Contributor:
Jeannette Tuionetoa

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I live on an island, and we have some incredible tide pools here. The reason the tide pools form is quite amazing, and what happens with the animals that gather there is interesting. I didn’t know much about tide pools until moving here, but I am glad I get to share them with you now.

These tide pool animals printables will help you to explore the interesting ocean ecosystems and creatures in a fun study of the ocean.

Animals of the Tide Pool Printables

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Tide Pool Animals

My daughter (13-years-old) aspires to be a marine biologist; anything ocean is right up her alley. Whenever we trek out to a hidden beach, she is in her element and never wants to leave.

The most exciting places for her to explore are the tide pools, which she can easily snorkel through. I don’t like the ocean much, but snorkeling around the tide pools really helps me to enjoy the environment.

What is a tide pool?

A tide pool is described as an isolated pocket of seawater from the ocean found in what’s called the intertidal zone. The intertidal zones are the areas where the sea meets the land. The tide pools can be around steep, rocky ledges or cliffs to the long, sloping sandy beaches. Tide pools are one of the many ocean habitats

An island in the middle of a body of water
Tide Pools in the Kingdom of Tonga, by Christopher Paquette.

Guess what? The island where I live has sandy beaches and rocky cliffs wrapped the whole way around it. During low tide, you can find tide pools in various areas outside the island beaches. As a matter of fact, tide pools are only accessible for us during low tide.

Animals in Tide Pools

Although tide pools can just look like puddles of water to the naked eye, they are so much more than that. Tide pools are actually complex and even broken up into three different zones within the tide pools (the splash zone, intertidal zone, and subtidal zone).

Tide Pool Ecosystem

Tide pools are pretty harsh environments requiring the animals there to adapt to its changing environment. The animals have to deal with the waves that continuously come in and out, creating turbulence during high tide. They face predation and desiccation stress (prolonged time with less hydration during low tide).

However, every wave during high tide brings fresh nutrients and microscopic organisms to supply the tide with their food chain.

Tide pools provide food and shelter to various fish and invertebrate species.

How Tides are Formed

Tides are created by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun (more so the moon) on the Earth’s oceans. The pull makes the water in the oceans bulge, which causes a never-ending change in the high and low tide. To find out more, have your kids drop by Seaworld.org or TimeandDate.com. Kids love to learn about the ocean

Study the Ocean and Learn More About Tide Pools

Learn more about the ocean and tide pools in this recommended resource: Ocean Notebook, a Notebook Companion™ to Ocean Anatomy by Julia Rothman.

In the Ocean Notebook students learn all about life in the ocean, layers of the ocean, the ocean floor, coral reefs, tide pools, and much more.

ocean themed notebooking

Tide Pool Animals

The tide pool creatures are breathtaking. They are all different colors, shapes, and sizes. Tidepool exploration may be my favorite way to get up close and personal with some of the tide pool creatures that are usually hidden by the waves. Tide pools are traditionally in dips on rocky shorelines and are located between high and low tides. They are accessible for exploration only when the water is at low tide.

You can see pools of darting fish and rainbow crabs here in Tonga. What we mostly can see is sea cucumber and starfish. It isn’t always that great. I mean, sea cucumbers are pretty gross to me. Stepping on one is NOT fun, especially if you get freaked out by different textures.

Other than that, tide pools are really a sight to see. My favorite is the bright, blue-colored fish. They are almost neon-colored. Then there are the starfish.

image of blue starfish
Starfish from the Kingdom of Tonga.

The starfish are an amazing bluish purple. When we touch them, they are stiff and feel like actual porcelain. Anyway, I can go on and on, but tide pools are pretty cool and the animals are gorgeous. They truly show God’s beauty.

Tide Pool Animals

Check out these animals of the tide pool printables to complete your studies on marine biology. Sections are broken down by the various creatures you’ll find in tide pools: starfish, sea cucumbers, barnacles, sea urchin, hermit crabs, sea anemones, octopus and the sea sponge. 

Included are tide pool coloring pages, tide pool games, a tide pool scavenger hunt and more!

Starfish

Shells and Starfish Activities Free Printable from Montessori By Mom

Sea Cucumber

Barnacles

Sea Urchin

Looking for some fun and easy paper plate ocean crafts? Crafts with paper plates use minimal supplies and don’t make much of a mess. 

paper plate ocean crafts

Sea Anemone

Hermit Crab

Check out these fun crab crafts!

crab crafts

Octopus

Learn About Octopus

Sea Sponge

Tide Pool Activities

Ocean Printables

Free Animals of the Coral Reef Printables

Ocean Terminology

In Conclusion

Learning about the ocean, tide pools, and tide pool animals is a lot of fun. Additionally, a study of the ocean is fun to do over the summer! Grab some of the free tide pool animals printables for some fun summer learning.