Singing Seals
Seals are easy to spot and observe. They can encourage young people to use the expressive arts in the study of wildlife, using words and pictures.
OBJECTIVE: to observe and record seals, using poetry and the expressive arts.
TIME: 1 - 2 hours
LOCATION: somewhere you know you will see seals.
YOU WILL NEED: clipboards, sheets of paper for drawing or writing, pencils (HB, B).
Seals are warm-blooded mammals, just like us. But unlike us they are as comfortable in water than they are on the land. They are hunters and, under the water, are streamlined swimmers able to speed through the water after their prey, which is mainly fish.
Seals are present around most of our coasts. Scotland has a large proportion of the world's overall population of both common and grey seals. However, neither species are common world-wide.
Before your Visit
Read and discuss the poems, 'We, the Seals' and 'Singing Seals'
- Practise using binoculars and the telescope in the school grounds.
- Discuss the important things about wildlife watching - being quiet, moving slowly and smoothly, observing carefully.
The Activity
Find a comfortable spot from where you have good views of the seals on the sandbanks. Share the binoculars and focus on the sea.
Observe the seals; are there both grey and common seals? Can you count them? What are they doing? Are they making any noises? Do they look calm or are they disturbed? Are they diving under water? Time how long they stay underwater; how long can people hold their breath for? Try it and see!
Ask everyone to think of one or two words that describe the seals, or their feelings about them. Write the words in the damp sand with a stick. Which words sound good together - see if the group can make a poem or the beginnings of a story. Alternatives are to create a seal rap, a word spiral, or a simple performance.
Write this up for use in the classroom.
Encourage everyone to make a sand-sketch of a particular seal, or a group of seals, then do a pencil drawing.
Before you leave, use a circle to find out what everyone liked the best about the seals and the activities.
Suggested follow-up
Create a seal gallery in the classroom or school hall with all the sketches, stories and poems.
Is there a local seal rescue centre? Find out and go and visit.
Seal poems
fur like moss
the smell of wet warmth
rolling on the sandbank
blubber
sleeping sunbathers
ungainly limbs
heavy weights
safety in numbers
smooth swimmer
cool
We, The Seals
Some say that we are the hounds of Neptune;
Whereas others say we are angels that fell from Heaven.
Some say that we are the souls of the drowned;
Whereas others say we are enchanted humans.
Some say that we are angels that fell from Heaven;
Whereas others say we are neither fish nor beast.
Some say that we are enchanted humans;
Whereas others say we are the children of the deep.
Some say that we are neither fish nor beast;
Whereas others say we sound like dogs barking.
Some say that we are the children of the deep;
Whereas others say we can sing like sirens.
Some say that we sound like dogs barking;
Whereas others say we are the hounds of Neptune.
Some say that we can sing like sirens;
Whereas others say we are the souls of the drowned.
Poem by Gordon Meade
Singing Seals
The
heads
Of unbodied seals
In Berwick harbour.
First one,
Then another.
We're able to count
Three at least.
Surfacing with only a ripple,
They submerge with even less.
But in their time
Above water, in their few
moments
Of air-breath, their heads hold
ours.
You ask
If they'd like
Your singing.
I speak of theirs.
Of legends. Of one-eyed
Sedna and her severed fingers.
Of fallen
Angels and humans
Under spells.
Of Eskimo rituals
And the culled soul's
Three day search for heaven.
You start humming
In a more than human tongue
And up they come again.
Poem by Gordon Meade.
'Singing Seals' first appeared in the publication 'Singing Seals'
