How to Have a Whale Watching Adventure with Kids

Whale watching was one of my very first adventures as a kid. My mom loves to tell the story about me trying to jump off the boat into the ocean to swim with the whales. It’s one of many Erin trying to escape into the ocean stories.

Ocean animals are a well loved interest in our house. One or more of my kids is often reading or watching or in some way learning about something that swims in the ocean. Since I firmly believe in learning through adventure, those interest have lead to many ocean animal field trips. Over the years we have:

• Gone to several aquariums (the
• Spent days at countless beaches
• Snorkeling in San Diego and Hawaii (read more about that here)
• Gone tide pooling (top tips here)
• And we’ve gone whale watching.

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This winter is the third time I’ve taken my kids whale watching. Once in Boston (it was a disaster, but that wasn’t Boston’s fault) and twice in San Diego. I’ve also been whale watching a couple times in Maine, pre-kid.

Learn about Whales

Before you head out on a whale watching adventure, I think it’s important to learn a little about the whales you’ll (hopefully) be seeing. Do some of the activities here and then if your kids come home excited, you can do even more afterwards.

• Measure out the lengths of different whales outside and mark them on the ground with chalk.
• Read LITTLE WHALE and talked about migration. Map your favorite or local whale’s migration path on a map or the globe.
• Read about them in Ocean Anatomy and do the fun matching activities in Ocean Anatomy Activity Book.
• We also enjoyed the Play the Lunch with Whales Game in the Marine Science for Kids book.
• Research different kinds of whales. Write a report about one. For middle schoolers and up, encourage them to practice quoting from their research.
• Create algebra problems based on migration facts.
  For example: Gray Whales migrate an average of roughly 6,000 miles each year from their summer feeding grounds to their winter birthing grounds. If a gray whale leaves Alaska at the beginning of October and arrives at the end of December, approximately how many miles do they cover per day, assuming they swim at a consistent rate each day? Assuming they swim nonstop during this time, how fast are they swimming in mph?
• Try this monocular sight experiment: Oceana on YouTube: What do Whales See?

Whale Booklist for Kids

This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some of our favorites about whales.

A Whale of the Wild
by Rosanne Parry
Find Online

Whale Done
by Stuart Gibbs
Find Online

Inside the Whale and Other Animals
by Ted Dewan
Find Online

The Secret Life of Whales
by Rena Ortega
Find Online

You May Also Like: Unforgettable Picture Books about Whales

Whale Documentaries

• Disney+ Secrets of the Whale || Giants of the Deep Blue
• Netflix: Mission Blue || Our Planet 2 ep 1
• PBS: Weathered episode on gray whales (12m)
• AppleTV: Big Beast episode 1 – Gray Whales
• TedEd: How Whales Breath, Communicate….and fart with their faces.
• TedEd: Three Different Ways Mammals Give Birth

What to Bring Whale Watching

• Warm layers – a wind breaker, sweatshirt, maybe even warm layers depending on how cold you tend to be. Whale Watching in the winter and early spring months can be chilly out on the water. Expect it to be significantly cooler on the water then it is on shore.
• Sunscreen – you will be out in the sun for much of the day. Hats are great too but be careful because some hats can fly off in the wind on the ship. Especially for kids, ones that tie under their chins are better or stick to hoodies you can pull up.
• Dramamine, antinausea patches, etc. My kids are both prone to sea sickness (as am I). Dramamine works best if you take it about 30 minutes before you leave port and that is what works best for me. There is Kids Chewable Dramamine as well. My kids do pretty well with just the patches and prefer those because they don’t have the drowsy effects of Dramamine. These Motion Patches are our go-to for road trips as well.
• Backpack with snacks and water. Most whale watching ships sell snacks and drinks, but I always bring some of our own too. Easy things like saltine crackers are ideal for keeping any nausea away.
• Binoculars – one for each person if you can. These binoculars are pretty inexpensive and kid proof. Make sure whichever pair you buy, they have a string that goes around your neck to prevent them from falling in the ocean.
• Some activities to do while you wait. Most road trip toys or activities will work for this. We usually bring a deck of cards for our older kids. This post has some of our favorite road trip activities for younger kids.

Top Tips for Whale Watching

My top tip for whale watching with kids is to expect to wait. Whale watching is a ton of fun and getting to see a whale in the wild is a cool experience, but it is a bit of an unpredictable process to get there. You will ride out for a ways in the boat (30 minutes plus) and then they will troll around hoping to spot some whales. There is no way around this waiting piece and I find that knowing it’s coming so I can mentally prepare to be patient and upbeat for my kids is helpful.

Additional tips:

• The windiest parts of the trip are on the way out and back in when the boat picks up speed. If you aren’t to prone to seasickness this might be a good time to sit inside. If you are, then sitting outside and towards the back of the boat is ideal.
• The easiest places to see the whales are outside. Once the ship slows down, I recommend heading outside and having your binoculars handy. You won’t get a ton of warning when a whale is spotted.

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