This activity will help children relate to having a "shark sense." Tell the children that sharks use all their senses to hunt in the ocean: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. But they also have a sixth sense. A shark has sensory pores on its snout. These pores detect electrical signals given off by its prey.
Assign one child to be a "shark" and give him or her a jar filled with tiny rocks. Blindfold the child. Allow the other children to be "shrimps." Give the shrimps jars full of popcorn. Explain the rules: whenever the shark shakes his or her jar, the shrimps must shake their jars in response. The shark will then hunt a shrimp by following his or her "signal." Be sure to carefully supervise the "shark," since he or she will be blindfolded; ensure that there are no obstacles in the child's way.
Sharks have odor-detecting cells inside their nostrils. They can smell odors in very low concentrations. Explain it this way: a great white shark can smell one drop of blood in 25 gallons of water. This activity will allow children to use their sense of smell just like a shark. Gather several different opaque jars; you should not be able to see the contents through the jar. Fill each one with different fragrant items. One jar could be filled with cinnamon, another one with rose petals, another one with orange juice. Select familiar scents that the children will recognize. Blindfold the children. Taking one child at a time, hold a jar under his nose. The child will then name the fragrance. Go through the jars with every child present; keep track of each child's guesses. Whoever has the most correct guesses wins a treat.
Many children don't know that there are several different kinds of sharks. Explain to the children that there are several different types of sharks and they are all different from one another. Have the children each select one type of shark and look for information on it online or in books--its environment and what it eats. Have them use an old shoebox to construct a diorama using a cutout or printout of that particular shark. They can color the diorama with paints and add rocks or pieces of coral on the bottom of the box. Using cardboard, they can color and cut out fish or shrimp for the shark to eat. Have them create a mini world for their shark.
Hand out a worksheet that labels all of the major shark body parts. Children can color the shark any way that they like. Go through the labels, explaining the anatomy of a shark. At the bottom of the worksheet, add several questions about the shark's anatomy and have students fill in the answers. (See Resources for an example.)