Homeschool,  Michigan,  Travel

SEA LIFE Aquarium – Auburn Hills, MI

     

Where can you go to see sting rays, sea turtles, jellyfish, and sharks? At Great Lakes Crossing Mall, in Auburn Hills, Michigan!

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I know what you’re thinking, “Did she just say I can go to a mall to visit an aquarium?!” Yes. Yes, I did!

Welcome to SEA LIFE Aquarium! 

   

Special thanks to SEA LIFE Aquarium who recently hosted our family during their Homeschool Week. After spending the whole morning there, you’ll understand why our children are begging to go back.

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Main entrance


Check out our list of Over 30 Incredible Ocean Themed Books, Games and Resources    

What’s inside?

  

Inside you will encounter over 5,000 sea creatures and 250 different species including sting rays, sea turtles, jellyfish, and sharks. Your journey starts in the freshwater lakes of Michigan, and ventures all the way to the ocean, all while meeting incredible creatures that live along the way!

There are over 20 exhibits. Some of our favorites include the Freshwater Exhibit, Harbor Exhibit, Interactive Touchpool, Shoaling Ring Exhibit, Seahorse Mangrove Exhibit,  Doodle Reef, Stingray Bay, Shipwreck Exhibit, Tropical Ocean Exhibit, Jellies Exhibit, Coral Reef Exhibit, and Conservation Cove. 

   

Freshwater Exhibit

  

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Freshwater Exhibit

   

Upon entering, the first exhibit you will encounter is the Freshwater Exhibit. Children can walk right up to the glass and be face-to-face with species of fish that can be found in freshwater lakes, rivers, and streams.

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Pop in and say “Hi!”

   

There is also a display with a tunnel under it with a pop-up inside the tank. It allows children, and children at heart, to crawl through and get a glimpse of what it looks like from inside the tank. 

There are pop-ups like this throughout Sea Life. My children loved all of them! It’s not very often you can get that close to creatures that live in the ocean.

   

Harbor Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Harbor Exhibit

   

Immediately, when I entered the Harbor, I started singing, “Sittin’ on the dock of the bay. Watchin’ the tide, roll away” (sorry if that song is stuck in your head now). Have you ever stood on a dock and wondered what lives underneath it? If so, this is a great exhibit to show you some tropical creatures that live in harbors around the world.

It isn’t required that you sing that song while walking through, but it does add to your experience.

    

Interactive Touch Pool

   

  

This was a favorite amongst our kids. Who doesn’t love a hands-on experience that includes touching creatures such as a sea star, slipper lobsters, and sea urchins? All while watching the Hermit crabs scurry along the sand right in front of you.

For those of you who are maybe a little indecisive about whether you want to put your hands in there, there is a sink so you are able to wash them before you move on. 

   

Shoaling Ring Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Shoaling Ring Exhibit

   

The Shoaling Ring lets you know what it would feel like if you were in the middle of a school of fish. You will stand in amazement as hundreds of fish swim circles around you. 

  

Seahorse Mangrove Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Seahorse Mangrove Exhibit

    

A mangrove is a small tree that grows along coastlines around the world. They have an interesting root system that allow many ocean creatures to live inside them. Here you can also see seahorses as they grab on to plants and sea grass, to keep from floating away.

    

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Hold on!

   

Doodle Reef

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Doodle Reef 

   

Doodle Reef was a great surprise! Here you get to design your own fish on interactive tablets. Then, after you are done designing them, they “swim” over to the big screens on the wall. There, you can interact with your exact design, give it a treat, race other fish, or just watch it swim around. Our children enjoyed seeing their designs on the big screens. It was appealing for all ages, even for the grandparents that were there. 

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Large interactive screen on the wall.

   

Stingray Bay Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Stingray Bay Exhibit

  

Kids need a break? This is the perfect spot to do so. Grab a seat, sit back,  and watch the stingrays, and even some sharks, swim around. This is home to the southern stingrays and Atlantic stingrays.

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Pop-in at Stingray Bay

   

There is a tunnel through the rocks in the background, that had two pop-ins so you could feel like you were right there with the stingrays. Keep an eye out for their green moray eel, Jeff. He’s 6 feet long, but he likes to hide!

    

Shipwreck Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Lionfish

   

If you’re brave, take a step aboard a sunken ship. Here you will find all the creatures that like to live in deep, dark parts of the ocean. Our favorite fish was the Lion Fish. It is so beautiful, and graceful, as it swims through the water.

   

Tropical Ocean Exhibit

       

Get your wetsuit on! We’re going in! The ocean tunnel was amazing! Imagine standing there while stingrays and sharks swim inches from your head. Incredible! 

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Ocean Tunnel 

   

As you walk through, you will be joined by plenty of fish swimming right beside you. Keep your eyes pealed for their two rescued green sea turtles, Benson and Carr.

  

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Stingray

   

Jellies Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Jellies Exhibit

   

Who doesn’t love jellyfish?! They are quite incredible when you think about it. Here is a creature that has no nerves, no blood, no heart, and no brain, and their bodies consist 95% of water! You can’t help but stand there mesmerized as they float around, creating all different shapes.

    

Coral Reef Exhibit

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Coral Reef Exhibit

    

The Coral Reef is filled with all different kinds of fish, in multiple shapes, sizes, and colors. It showcases all of your favorite fish, such as the clownfish and blue tang, and even some that you may have never seen before. 

   

Conservation Cove

    

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
One of the reasons we use reusable bags at stores.

   

Conservation Cove is FULL of information about the huge impact that trash and plastic have on marine life. They give you plenty of ideas on what you can do to help protect the ocean, and everything that lives inside of it.

Visit our YouTube Channel and subscribe so you never miss an adventure!

Behind-The-Scenes Tour

  

   

Don’t miss this chance to go behind-the-scenes with an experienced guide to find out all about how Sea Life provides for all of the creatures in their care. It was about 20 minutes in length and is broken down into different stages.

   

  

It covers such things as how they filter the water, what each animal eats and when, and a stop at the lab where they make sure all of their systems are operating correctly to ensure all of the animals stay healthy.

Our guide took the time to answer any of the questions we had, which is great for inquiring minds.

       

Educational Talks and Feeding Demonstrations

   

Throughout the day, SEA LIFE offers different talks and feeding demonstrations such as:

  • A morning story time which is perfect for little children.
  • Breakfast with Benson and Carr, the green sea turtles.
  • Stingray Tales – Discover the amazing world of stingrays.
  • SEA LIFE Superheros – Learn about sharks and their amazing superpowers.
  • Watch an Aquarist feed the rays during the Stingray Feeding Demonstration
  • Touchpool Feed – Learn what tide pool creatures eat, and what they don’t.
  • Turtle Talk where you learn about their habitats and what you can do to help protect them.

   

Homeschool Week

   

As you may, or may not know, we homeschool, and the week we visited just so happened to be Homeschool Week. During this dedicated week they offer discounted admission for homeschoolers and their families. Admission was only $10 per person, which saved us $13.50 per adult and $8.50 per child. That’s a great discount if you ask me!

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Workstation #1

   

Upon entering, the kids were handed a worksheet that went along with various workstations throughout the aquarium. The stations covered topics such as “What is a fish?” and “How do gills work?” They were great opportunities that allowed the kids to dive deeper into learning more about ocean creatures.

   

Sea life aquarium Auburn Hills
Workstation #2

   

Each day they had a short activity for grades K-3, and a fish dissection workshop for grades 4-12. Younger children could participate in the fish dissection as long as they had help from an adult. And if you’re wondering, no, this isn’t a workshop where you were watching one of the employees dissect a fish. Each child got to dissect their own fish. Now that’s hands-on!

They also offer printable Teacher Notes and Student Exploration Sheets. These are great educational activities that you and your child can complete during your visit. They currently offer: Amazing Oceans: Pre-k to K, Behavior: 1st-5th Grades, Conservation: 1st-5th Grades, and Food Chains & Ecosystems: 1st-5th Grades.

    

Know Before You Go

    

Tickets

You are able to purchase tickets online, which guarantees your entry AND you get to skip the lines when you get there. Sounds like a win-win to me, especially with children in tow. They can either scan your tickets on your phone or you can print the tickets and bring them with you.

   

Aquarium Information

   

Here you can find all the information you need before your visit, such as Hours and How To Get There. There is also a list of local hotels that they partner with, if you’re looking to stick around for a couple days. Some of them offer packages that include both your hotel room and admission to SEA LIFE.

They currently have 12 locations, spread all over the world! PERHAPS you will find a SEA LIFE Aquarium near you!

Read about our other adventures in Michigan:

    

ENTER TO WIN!!

***CONTEST ENDED 02/28/19***

We enjoyed SEA LIFE Aquarium so much, and we know you would too! So our friends at SEA LIFE Aquarium in Auburn Hills, Michigan, have generously given us five complimentary tickets (total value $117.50) to giveaway to our readers, so we could share the fun with you.

It is easy to enter… follow the Rafflecopter prompts below and you’re done!  A winner will be chosen at random on March 1, 2019 and notified via the email and/or Facebook account used to enter.  Good luck!

SEA LIFE Family 5 Pack of Tickets Giveaway

If your family loves aquariums as much as ours, venture over to our other posts about Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies and Maui Ocean Center.

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