Keiki Corner
Keiki Corner
🕷 New Halloween Activities! 🕷
Pumpkin Carving Templates 🎃
This Halloween, dive into the deep with our ocean-inspired pumpkin carving designs! Download our carving templates below and bring Hawaiʻi’s marine life 🐙🌊 to your Halloween. Each design features a native species you might find in local waters, along with fun facts to learn as you carve. Tape your stencil to the pumpkin, poke along the lines, and carve carefully with adult help.
Click on the images below to download and print the templates!
👻 Spooky Creatures Highlights 👻
Cookie cutter sharks are not what you need for holiday baking. This shadowy fish travels over 1.9 mi vertically from the pitch-black depths to stalk prey that are hundreds of times larger than themselves. This warm-water loving shark is known for its unique feeding strategy- ripping and tearing flesh from its prey. These parasitic sharks like to target marine mammals, other sharks, and large fish including tuna. These ghost-like hunters use their specialized teeth and wide jaws to bite off small circular shaped chunks similar to a cookie. These amazing sharks can also bring green luminescence to the party with light producing spots used to avoid predators and sneak up on its victims.
Armed to the teeth, Viper moray eels are one of many species of eels found in Hawai‘i. Viper eels are known for their striking appearance and large fangs. These menacing eels can reach over three feet and can be found up to 100 feet deep. Viper eels like to live in deep, dark hidden corners of the reef. Their sharp teeth are perfect for catching and holding onto prey, not letting go. Once a prey is captured, a second set of internal jaws with similarly sharp curved teeth help them to hold, position, and swallow their prey. These predators can be seen resting during the day and emerge at night to roam the reefs.
Herbivore Activity Book
Download and print our Herbivores: Gardeners of the Reef keiki activity and coloring book! Mahalo to Leilani Franco-Mar for the ʻōlelo Hawai‘i translations, check below for the ʻōlelo version.
Kuʻi ka lono!
ʻAkahi a paʻi ʻia ka puke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ʻo Nā Iʻa Hamulimu: Nā Mahi ʻai o ka ʻĀpapa. He puke haʻawina a he puke kala kēia na nā keiki. Mahalo iā Leilani Franco-Mar i ka unuhina
What are herbivore fish?
They are fish that eat algae as their main source of food. Herbivores eat the algae and keep it from overgrowing, helping it to stay in balance on the reef. They are like the coral reef’s natural gardeners! The uhu (parrotfish) and kole (Goldring Surgeonfish) are two examples of herbivore fish.
Click below to make some fun finger puppets!
Click below to download an uhu, kole, kala, or manini coloring page!
2023 Herbivore Coloring Contest
Congratulations to the winners of our 2023 Herbivore Coloring Contest! We received such beautiful submissions that were so creative and really brought our coral reefs to life. Keiki 8 and under submitted a colored illustration of our Manini or Kala coloring page, and keiki 9-12 entered the contest by submitting a personal drawing of their favorite herbivore fish. Mahalo nui to all those who participated! Click below to view the winning entries!
To learn more about herbivores and coral reefs, click HERE to download and print your own copy of our Herbivore Keiki Activity and Coloring Book. Limited copies will be available at our outreach events and the Division of Aquatic Resources office in Honolulu.
2022 Herbivore Coloring Contest
Congratulations to the winners of our 2022 Herbivore Coloring Contest! We received such amazing submissions that were so full of color and life – just like our coral reefs. Keiki 8 and under submitted a colored illustration of our Manini or Kala coloring page, and keiki 9-12 entered the contest by submitting a personal drawing of their favorite herbivore fish along with a short statement on why they are important in our reefs. Click below to view the winning entries!
Because we received such beautiful artwork from many talented keiki, we wanted to showcase their work and give everyone the opportunity to view and appreciate their art. Please click here to swim through the fishes in our ocean – through the eyes of our keiki!
ʻAʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia.
No task is too big when done together by all.
– Mary Kawena Pukui, ʻŌlelo Noʻeau #142
