February 12th, 2016

Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children

Post Number 52

Dolphins

 

Hello Everyone

 

 

Well my lighthouse has been battered by wild storms this week.  The winds have been over ninety miles an hour and the waves have been of epic proportions!

 

l didn’t let Barney outside for days for fear he would get blown away and we were both snuggled up here in the warm listening to the wind howling outside. 

 

l haven’t seen any mice at all. l think they have been sheltering under the floorboards and in the deep crevices of the walls. They were probably spooked by the racket outside. l don’t worry about them, l know that they always have a good store of food. 

 

lt has been very difficult to sleep at night with all the noise of the strong winds and crashing waves though.

 

The residents of Rocky Bay had to ‘batten down the hatches’ too as the full force of the storm hit the coast.

 

Nobody was walking on the beach.  Dogs and cats were kept inside.  Rabbit hutches were put inside garages for the duration.  People weren’t even making it out to the Rusty Anchor on the harbour wall.

 

Of course, when the waves are this high there is turbulence under the water as well and many creatures hide from it near the seabed or even swim into the harbour where the harbour walls give them some protection.

 

We knew the storm was coming so any small boats that could be hauled out of the water were tucked away in boat houses or back yards to keep them safe.

 

So after all that, l am glad to report we have all survived unscathed and my sturdy little lighthouse sustained very little damage. Things have quietened down now and so here l am writing my blog again with brilliant sunshine streaming in through the window.

 

Bill and Bob didn’t go over to the park to play at all this week.  There was a lot of damage to be cleared up over there and their mum said they should play inside to keep out of the way.

 

So Bill and Bob have been playing with their shipwreck game all week. They have been taking it in turns to be the shark.  Then Henry comes round to play so that he can be the shark too.  He comes to their house via a back lane which is sheltered by the high stone garden walls.

 

 

When people see a shark fin or a dolphin fin above the surface of the sea, they sometimes find it hard to tell the difference, but in fact the two fins are quite a different shape.

 

And sharks and dolphins are very different creatures.

 

Sharks have powerful jaws that are so strong they can bite a hole in a small boat. Most sharks have several rows of very sharp, triangular shaped teeth that tilt slightly backwards. These teeth often fall out and are replaced by a new one moving in from the row behind. ln a lifetime a shark can lose and replace many thousands of teeth!

 

Sharks usually have quite pointed faces. But not the hammerhead shark which has one of the most unusual shaped heads of anything in the sea.

 

lf sharks don’t keep swimming forwards, they sink down to the seabed. This is because unlike most fish they don’t have swim bladders. A swim bladder is like a balloon inside a fish’s body. Some sharks even have to swim continuously (never stop) in order to survive.

 

Dolphins on the other hand have quite smiley faces.

 

People think that they are very intelligent and lovable.

 

Dolphins love playing and doing tricks, and swimming and jumping in front of boats. When they are swimming in the sea, they find things to play with like bits of seaweed and use them as toys.

 

They quite like people too and there are many stories of dolphins rescuing people, protecting them and taking them to safety even on journeys of many miles.

 

Dolphins have a language all their own. lt sounds like clicking and whistling and they communicate with each other using this language. They like living in groups. They also have good hearing. They send out sounds and when these sounds bounce back from something in the water in the form of echoes, the dolphins can tell the size and shape and distance of objects in front of them.

 

These objects can be as much as a quarter of a mile away. This phenomenon is called echo location. lt is especially useful when the water is very dark and the dolphins want to know where they are going in the darkness.

 

Sound can travel three times faster through water than air. When the seas are murky, communicating with sound is important.

 

There are some places where the dolphins are so close to the beach that people can go and swim with them.

 

Be careful they don’t steal your beach ball though!  

 

Have you ever swum with dolphins?

 

 

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

 

Love and kisses

 

Salty Sam

www.christina-sinclair.com

 

 

 

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

 

Bob: Why are dolphins so clever?

 

Bill: l don’t know. Why are dolphins so clever?

 

Bob: Because they live in schools! 

 

 

Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.

Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com

 

Picture Gallery 

A reef shark

doesn’t usually attack people if visibility in the water is good 

 

A bottlenose dolphin

has a different shaped fin from the shark

 

Hammerhead shark 

 

Dolphins love to leap into the air 

 

Dolphins like playing with toys 

 

The teeth of a tiger shark 

 

A hammerhead shark 

 

A young hammerhead shark – baby sharks are called pups 

 

Sharks have different shaped fins and tails from dolphins 

 

The unmistakable silhouette of a shark 

 

Sharks have gills on their sides to breathe just like other fish –

whereas dolphins have blowholes to breathe above the surface of the water 

 

A dolphin lamp post by the Thames

 

A dolphin fountain in Trafalgar Square 

 

This dolphin is spurting water out of its head 

 

A dolphin fountain in Hyde Park –

dolphins are an important element of classical architecture 

 

A good place to see the shape and relative sizes of sea mammals is a natural history museum

(This one is in London)

 

 

 

     THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK

 

I took the shark photgraphs in the picture gallery this week at great personal risk for all you Salty Sam fans out there – okay seriously, I admit it, the sharks were in a tank and the only injury I got was from Bill and Bob treading on my feet as they tried to get a closer look!

But remember, if you ever go to a sealife centre, don’t use your camera flash if you want to take photographs because it does upset the sea creatures that live there.

If you would like to see some more lovely pictures of dolphins and other wonderful, fascinating and often surprisingly colourful creatures that live under the sea, you can check out my Pinterest board at:

https://www.pinterest.com/TheSaltySamBlog/under-the-sea/

 

 

And now a question for you. Have you ever adopted an animal?

There are horses and donkeys and all sorts of land animals to adopt, but you can also adopt sea creatures as well. If you love dolphins, and I know a lot of children do; then you can adopt one.

 

 

You are not allowed to take it home with you though – even if you have the most enormous bath tub!

 

www.adoptadolphin.org.uk

 

This is me ready for swimming

 

 

A lot of people have been writing in to say how much they are enjoying my blog and they hope that I keep writing it – so thank you.

 

 

The more readers I have, the easier it will be for me to continue to write, so please everyone tell everyone you know about my blog – all your Facebook and Twitter friends, all your friends at school. Please help to spread the word and get my readership numbers even higher.

If you are learning to read or you are learning English, my blog should help you.

If you have trouble understanding any part of my blog, don’t forget that you can copy and paste it into Google Translate and that will translate any part that you have difficulty understanding into your own language.

Thank you everyone for your support!

 

 

Here is the link for the adopt a dolphin scheme:

http://www.adoptadolphin.org.uk/

 

lf you would like to adopt a whale instead, you can contact:

http://uk.whales.org/donate-and-adopt

 

And there are lots of other animals that you can adopt as well

Check out out the WWF website:

http://www.wwf.org.uk/adoption/dolphin/

 

And there is more fun stuff for children at:

 

http://www.wwf.org.uk/wildlife/which_animal_are_you_/

 

http://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/working_with_youth_groups_and_young_people/

resources_for_youth_groups/

 

 

 

 

 
NEWSDESK MINIMAKE

A PLASTIC CANVAS CONTAINER

 

On blog posts 39 and 40 I taught you how to make boxes out of plastic canvas.

 

 

You don’t have to line them with fabric. You could just make a box to go around another box you have like a cardboard box or a plastic fruit box like the project in the photograph.

The box has panels of plastic canvas as follows:

Two side panels = 39 holes by 17 holes

Two end panels = 33 holes by 17 holes

One bottom panel = 39 holes by 33 holes

The squares are worked over 5 holes.  Then a line of white stitches is worked around the panels of squares.

A line of yellow stitches run across the top and another line of white above that.

 

 

The bottom panel can be left without stitches if you like.  It is attached to the bottom edges of all the side panels and then the side corners of the box can be sewn together.

An edging of orange yarn is oversewn around the top edge.

*If you need to make your box a different size you may need to change the design of the stitching. 

 

 

 

 
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 Quick Quiz

 

As you already know, Auntie Alice lives in a cottage by the river.

This river runs into the sea which means that l can go from the sea (where l live in my lighthouse) to her cottage by boat.

Most rivers run into a sea or lake.

 

Can you put these into order of size?

 

river

stream

brook

ocean

flood

trickle

sea

 

 
 

BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!

 

 

PLUS

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lt’s the Weekend!

 

 
HOW TO MAKE MY SWlMSUlT AND SWlM HAT

 
The people of Rocky Bay love to go swimming in the sea when the water is warm enough. Swimming is very good exercise and learning to swim is a very important thing to do.

This Salty Sam swimsuit is made so that each piece has an armhole in the middle and the sides are the centre front and back seams not the side seams. It is blue and white. Of course you can make it in any colours you like. You will need one 100g ball of each colour for the swimsuit and the hat.

This pattern is not suitable for an absolute beginner, but it is not too difficult.

 

 

SIDE OF SWIMSUIT (KNIT TWO)

Using 4mm knitting needles and blue dk yarn cast on 60 stitches

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Repeat the last 4 rows once (8 rows)

 
Change to white dk yarn and repeat the last 8 row pattern

Change to blue yarn and repeat the 8 row pattern (24 rows)

 
Change to white yarn

The next 4 rows:-

Cast off 2 stitches at the beginning of the next row – knit 1 row

Cast off 2 stitches at the beginning of the next row – purl 1 row

Cast off 1 stitch at the beginning of the next row – purl 1 row

Cast off 1 stitch at the beginning of the next row – knit 1 row

(54 stitches)

 

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row (32 rows)

 

Change to blue yarn

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

 

Change to white yarn

Continue using this 8 row pattern for another 32 rows changing colour every 8 rows (72 rows) (9 stripes)

 

Put 1^st 27 stitches on a stitch holder (or very large safety pin)

Join on the white yarn

Knit 2 together, knit to the end of the row (26 stitches)

Purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

 

Change to blue yarn

Repeat the 8 row pattern

 

Decrease 1 stitch at the neck edge on each row for the next 16 rows

(Remember that the armhole is in the middle – so the neck edge is at the sides of your piece of knitting)

 

Work an 8 row pattern in white yarn

Work an 8 row pattern in blue yarn (10 stitches)

Cast off

 

With the right side of the knitting facing you join the white yarn onto the stitches being held on the stitch holder.

 

Knit 25 knit 2 together (26 stitches)

Purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

 

Change to blue yarn

Repeat the 8 row pattern

 

Decrease 1 stitch at the neck edge on each row for the next 16 rows

 

Work an 8 row pattern in white yarn

Work and 8 row pattern in blue yarn (10 stitches)

Cast off

 

 

TO MAKE THE SLEEVES ON EACH SIDE

With the right side of the knitting facing you, using blue yarn pick up 45 stitches along the armhole edge.

Purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Change to white yarn

Repeat the 8 row pattern

Change to blue yarn

Repeat the 8 row pattern

Cast off

 

TO MAKE UP

1. Sew the inside leg seams on each piece right sides together (using yarn in a knitters’ sewing needle) using running stitch.
2. Then sew the each piece together along the front and back seams right sides together – but don’t pull the sewing in too tightly. (It might help to tuck one leg inside the other.)
3. Pick up 34 stitches along the neck edge on each piece.
4. Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, cast off and then neaten the ends of the neck band using the knitters’ yarn sewing needle.
5. Sew 3 buttons down the top of the front seam using sewing thread.
6. Sew up the top sleeve seams and 1 cm into the shoulder.
7. Sew a snap fastener to the top of the shoulders by the neck with sewing thread. (The shoulders must be left open to allow enough room for dressing.)

 

 

SWIMMING HAT (KNIT 2)

Using 4mm knitting needles and blue dk yarn cast on 40 stitches

Knit 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Stocking stitch 12 rows starting with a knit row

Continuing in stocking stitch and work as follows:

Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of the next 16 rows (24 stitches)

Decrease 1 stitch at each end of the next 8 rows (8 stitches)

Cast off

 

TO MAKE UP

Sew along the upper edge using yarn in a knitters’ needle in running stitch or back stitch right sides together.

 

 

 

 

 

Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use or for use in classrooms only.

It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.

Use of the toys and projects on all of these blogs is at your own risk.

©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015

 

 

Quick Quiz Answers

 

From smallest to biggest:-

 

1. trickle
2. brook
3. stream
4. river
5. flood
6. sea
7. ocean

 

A brook is narrow enough to jump over

 

 

If you would like to see some films of dolphins and sharks,

Wildscreen Arkive

have some wonderful films about nature 

Checkout: 

http://www.arkive.org/bottlenose-dolphin/tursiops-truncatus/videos.html 

http://www.arkive.org/great-white-shark/carcharodon-carcharias/videos.html