Fish of the reef

Ocean life

Three free lessons for ages 8 to 11

Reef fish come in every shape and colour, and each shape is a clue to how they live. Students design a fish, test camouflage with a printed hunt, and compare their own count with the two million fish our divers counted from 2022 to 2026.

Ages
8 to 11
Time
45 to 60 minutes per lesson
Subjects
Science, maths and art
Hands-on
A design-a-fish task, a camouflage hunt and a picture count with a bar chart
  1. Lesson 1: Shapes and mouths

    How reef fish body shapes and mouths match how they live, with MCP photos from Negros Oriental and a design-a-fish task.

    Ages
    8 to 11 (grades 3 to 6)
    Time
    45 to 60 minutes
    You need
    One worksheet per student, colouring pens
    Download the lesson pack (zip, 1.0 MB)
  2. Lesson 2: Tricks for survival

    How reef fish survive by hiding, teaming up and warning, with a camouflage hunt that collects class data.

    Ages
    8 to 11 (grades 3 to 6)
    Time
    45 to 60 minutes
    You need
    One set of camouflage hunt pages per pair (colour printing), pencils, a timer
    Download the lesson pack (zip, 2.9 MB)
  3. Lesson 3: Counting fish like MCP divers

    How MCP divers count fish, a picture count with a bar chart, and what MCP's real surveys found.

    Ages
    8 to 11 (grades 3 to 6)
    Time
    45 to 60 minutes
    You need
    One count sheet per student (colour printing), pencils, rulers
    Download the lesson pack (zip, 1.5 MB)

Bring your students to the reef

We host school groups at our base in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, for diving or snorkelling, beach clean-ups and tree planting alongside our conservation team. Every visit follows our child protection policy.

Plan a school expedition

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