It’s Shark Week on the Discovery Channel!! Yah! This week in our house ranks up there with the Christmas in terms of excitement. I keep waiting for my boys love of sharks to die down but each year it seems to only grow. I would not be surprised if my 10 year old ended up as a marine biologist someday.
So Shark Week officially started last night at 8 pm ET on the Discovery Channel but we had the tv on most of the weekend for FinFest, which has been a two-day live reporting shark party in California while shark shows are shown.
With a line-up of shows this week that includes Sharkaggedon, Zombie Sharks and Monster Hammerhead, how can we resist? But one thing I want to point out at this point is the importance too in educating your kids beyond what shows like Sharknado and Jaws portray and some of these more sensationalized shark shows. It’s all in fun but sharks and many shark toys depict sharks in a negative way.
Did you know, more people get struck by lightning each year than bitten by a shark? There’s some great organizations out there where you can learn more about sharks and how they are endangered like Shark Savers, the World Wildlife Foundation and Project Aware.
To get you inspired, here’s some shark books & toys to get you and the family inspired and hopefully along the way, these can help you learn more about sharks from an educational standpoint.
Discovery Channel’s Sharkopedia, $17.95 on Amazon – everything you’d want to know about sharks and more. We got this one a few years ago and my boys still flip through it constantly. Gorgeous photos of sharks and my boys can tell you all about sharks thanks to this book.
I’m a Shark, $13.43 on Amazon – for the younger kid who loves sharks, a fun board book and story. We have this one too and still read it!
A fun toy that helps support sharks is on the World Wildlife Foundation’s site – you can “adopt” a lot of animals on the site including Adopting a Whale Shark. Your adoption fee includes a plush Whale Shark and helps support WWF’s global conservation efforts.
4D Shark Model, $27.50. My 10 year old has had this in his room for years and it’s still one of his favorite items in his bedroom.
Sharks of the World, $20.46 on Amazon
And this one isn’t educational but comes from one of my favorite stores, Lush Cosmetics. Lush is selling Shark Fin soap this week and 100% of the price of this soap will be donated to United Conservationists, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of sharks through its Fin Free movement. Shark Fin Soap, $5.95 at LushUSA.com.
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