Touch Tank – January 2020
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I enjoy the volunteer gig at the Robinson Nature Center Touch Tank….getting more experienced every time I spend an hour there. The Discovery Room, where the touch tank is located, is full of activities for pre-school through elementary school aged children with the Touch Tank being available when there is a volunteer to open it.
There are two kinds of sea urchins: the slate pencil with spines that look like slate pencils from the 1800s and pin cushion with spines that are more prickles. Both names are somewhat historical for young children. Some have never seen a pin cushion! Even the adults haven’t seen slate pencils that look like the sea urchin. Everyone enjoys seeing how the pin cushion urchins ‘hide’ by holding shells and little hats to themselves. The pin cushion urchins can also hang on well enough to hang upside down for a little while on my hand…always a surprise to the children.
Sometimes the sea urchins attach themselves to something else – a rock or a conch. Do you see the pin cushion urchin on the back of the milk conch in the pictures below? The conch was on the move with eye stalks extended and vacuuming up its food from the sand.
There are three conchs in the tank. The largest is usually the most active.
And then there are the sea stars. I like to look at them through the glass of the tank…with their suction-cup feet out and hanging on. I pick them up for the children to touch – back and front – but I like them better through the glass.
Overall, I am getting more comfortable with the animals in the tank and better at controlling the flow of people (children) around the tank. An hour at the touch tank is always an hour well spent!
