Who, What, Where, Why, and How

Who: A perfect activity for inquisitive students of all ages- encouraging curiosity, creativity, and hands-on discovery.

What: The project aims to create a fun and engaging experience that combines physical and virtual media to motivate young people to learn about the marine ecosystem, the ocean, and environmental health through our mascot animal, whales. (Of course, participants are free to study any other aquatic animals.)

Where: There are two ways to share the project.

1. Follow the steps in the How section and post your research and whale windsock. Make sure you add the hashtags #whalewindsock, #OceanHealth, and AlaskaWhaleFoundation to all your videos.

2. You can join in the pop-up windsock flying events near your home. The location and the dates will be announced and updated on Looplet.ai. If you are interested in hosting, please sign up on the Google Form.

How: Learn about a marine mammal, post a video recording of what you learned, make a windsock, and participate in virtual and physical windsock flying events

1. Make a short video explaining the marine animal that you researched and learned about.

2. Post pictures and edit your video down to 5–15 seconds for Instagram, TikTok, or any SMS.

3. Use the hashtags #whalewindsock, #OceanHealth, and AlaskaWhaleFoundation on all your videos. These hashtags help others find us and be inspired to make their own videos and windsock, thereby spreading awareness about marine conservation.

 Supporting students interested in the project

-Don’t consider yourself a student? No problem, here are some instructions on how to help someone you care about participate in the project

1. Encourage a young person (friend, family member, neighbor) to choose a marine animal to study. Help them along by going to the library, an aquarium, or watching a documentary

2. Record a short video of them sharing what they learned

3. Fill out the Whale Windsock Google Form

4. Help them design and create a windsock of their choosing

5. Record them flying their windsock in the yard, a park or other public space.