Teaching tools

There are so many ways to engage students in learning about the ocean! Explore this collection of resources to inspire and support teaching about the marine environment.

Primary

Young Ocean Explorers’ 21 Day Challenge includes free lesson plans and excellent video resources inspiring learning about the ocean. The challenge runs from 28 Feb – 11 Apr 2025 and is aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum at levels 1–4.

LEARNZ’s ‘Love Rimurimu’ virtual field trip will launch on 5 March 2025! The field trip will be an interactive experience exploring seaweed restoration in Wellington. View more field trips on the LEARNZ website. 

Seaweek Creature Content is great for teaching about New Zealand sea creatures. Our interviews with animals and accompanying 'creature cards' can be used for reading assignments and classroom displays. You can download the entire creature cards collection here.

Ocean Mind learn & colour pages featuring kelp and kina.

Intermediate

Ocean Literacy Educators Guide (NEW) by Sir Peter Blake MERC features content and activities suitable for most learners ages 10 & up. It contains an overview of the seven ocean literacy principles and ideas for communicating them through hands-on activities - find out more on this page.

Te Kawa O Tangaroa, Ocean-Centred Learning platform by the Marine Stewardship Council provides a wide range of lesson plans, classroom activities and online resources suitable for intermediate students.

Biosecurity Education Modules created by Northland, Auckland and Bay of Plenty Regional Council are great resources for teaching about marine biosecurity and are linked to science levels 3 and 4.

Secondary 

The Ocean of Tomorrow: Ocean Acidification and the Marine World by the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre includes; a teacher guide, lesson plans and a series of presentations for exploring how climate change is impacting marine life with your students.

Multiple age groups

The New Zealand Association for Environmental Education (NZAEE) has a great collection of marine resources for Seaweek. Their website's resource directory also links to a wide range of organisations.

The Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) also have an excellent resource collection featuring lesson plans, colouring sheets, posters and more.

The New Zealand Marine Studies Centre also has hundreds of free downloadable resources for all ages.

Royal Albatross Centre’s educational resources are a fantastic way for students of all levels to learn about New Zealand seabirds.

The Department of Conservation’s Protecting Our Marine World resource is a series of teaching activities linked to the NZ Curriculum levels 1-4 supporting learning about the ocean and marine reserves.

Project Jonah’s resources include a range of free downloadable activities and short videos for teaching about marine mammals.

Marine Invaders card game, is an educational marine biosecurity game that supports learning about native and invasive marine species - suitable for all ages.