Portable, museum-quality collections for teachers and parents!
Bring The Whale Museum into your classroom, library, community event or home by creating an interactive, hands-on experience for your young learners! Geared for youth up through high school, whether you want to complement an educational program you booked at TWM or just want to use these kits independently, these kits make a great addition! These kits include specimens, lesson plans, activities, and resources that can be tailored to all ages and interests. Our marine kits support classroom curriculum by highlighting the wonder and beauty of the Salish Sea and several marine species that call it home.
Please note: Kits are totes with items in them. Kits can not be mailed and are limited to a max of two weeks rentals. They must be picked up/dropped off at the same location. Kits rentals can either be checked out through TWM in Friday Harbor, WA or The Salish Sea School in Anacortes, WA. Only one kit may be checked out at a time by the same client.
Price per rental: $60.00
You can read about our specific kits below and request a kit by following these instructions:
- Learn about the individual kits and select the one you'd like to rent.
- Read the kit rental Terms & Conditions
- If you want to pick up/drop off your kit from Anacortes, please visit the Salish Sea School website. To pick up your kit from Friday Harbor, proceed with these further instructions below.
- Fill out this Kit Request Form
- Upon receiving confirmation from TWM's Education Director, a payment link will be provided.
For questions, contact The Whale Museum's Education Director Tracie Merrill.
Schooling with Salmon
What is included:
- Chinook salmon skull (replica)
- Salmon fish scale leather hide
- Salmon life cycle models
- Chinook salmon life stage vials
- Fish otoliths (replicas)
- Chinook salmon otoliths
- Chum salmon vertebrae
- Pink salmon vertebrae
- Books (Salmon Stream, Salmon Boy, Pacific Salmon Field Guide)
- Microscope & spare battery
- Microscope slides (Chinook salmon scales, fish blood, goldfish scale, & sardine scale)
- Salmon rubber mold for Japanese fish printing
- Salmon wooden cut out for art activities/crafts (trace salmon outline then color, paint, etc.)
- Virtual reality goggles (3 sets)
- Salmon species ID matching game cards
- Activity sheets (5 species of salmon hand, Build your own salmon life cycle poster, Salmon migration obstacle course, Gyotaku Fish Printing, Virtual reality immersive underwater experience)
- Educational materials (Essential questions, Salmon species fact sheets, Salmon identification sheet, How you can help salmon)
- Additional general kit reference/guide materials
Flipping Out with Pinnipeds
What is included:
- Harbor seal skull
- Whiskers (Steller sea lion & harbor seal)
- Teeth (sea lion & harbor seal)
- Northern elephant seal tooth (replica)
- Seal pelt (replica)
- Steller sea lion vertebrae & rib bone
- Models (sea lion, harbor seal, & elephant seal)
- Books (The Seal Garden, Seals and Sea Lions: Photos and Fun Facts for Kids, Field Guide to Marine Mammals of the Pacific Coast)
- Seal and sea lion wooden cut outs for art activities/crafts (trace pinniped outlines then color, paint, etc.)
- How big is a pinniped rope
- Virtual reality goggles (3 sets)
- Pinniped species ID matching game cards
- Activity sheets (How big is a pinniped, Seal vs. Sea Lion Venn Diagram, Build a seal sheet, Virtual reality immersive underwater experience)
- Educational materials (Essential questions, Pinniped species fact sheets, How you can help pinnipeds)
- Additional general kit reference/guide materials
Diving Into Cetaceans
What is included:
- Harbor porpoise skull
- Harbor porpoise teeth
- Orca tooth (replica)
- Sperm whale tooth (replica)
- Harbor porpoise vertebrae
- Harbor porpoise rib bone
- Gray whale vertebrae
- Gray whale baleen
- Baleen cross section (replica)
- Baleen whale inner ear bone (fossil)
- Models (orca, gray whale, minke whale, & humpback whale)
- Books (Granny’s Clan, The Super book of Whales, National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World)
- How big is a whale rope
- Virtual reality goggles (3 sets)
- Cetacean species ID matching game cards
- Orca dorsal fin ID matching game cards
- Humpback whale tail fluke ID matching game cards
- Activity sheets (How big is a whale, Toothed vs. Baleen Whale Venn diagram, Virtual reality immersive underwater experience)
- Educational materials (Essential questions, Cetacean species fact sheets, How you can help cetaceans)
- Additional general kit reference/guide materials
For more online resources and materials to go with kits, check out our Educator Resources page!
Thank you to our program supporters: The Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), The Northwest Aquatic & Marine Educators, The San Juan Island Community Foundation, and the Salish Sea School!
