A free family activity · Read, notice, draw
Hide an octopus on paper
About ten minutes · Paper and crayons · A grown-up to read with. Make a look-again challenge using color and pattern. This whole activity stays indoors.
Wonder
Which would be easier to spot against brown, blotchy rocks: a bright pink octopus or a brown, blotchy one? Make a guess. You can point, tell, or draw your answer.
Investigate
Fold a sheet of paper in half. On each half, draw a similar-sized octopus with eight arms. Color one bright pink. Color the other tan and brown with patches. Draw a tan-and-brown rocky background around each. Keep the two octopuses about the same size. Look at both pictures from the same place: which outline is easier to find?
Learn
Similar colors and patterns can make an animal harder to spot against its surroundings. A real octopus can change its skin’s appearance; some can also raise or flatten skin bumps. Our paper octopuses cannot change themselves. We changed their appearance with crayons to explore one part of camouflage.
Do
Invite someone to find both octopuses. If they need a clue, say Grace’s refrain: “Look, look… look again!” Help them find an eye or a curling arm. Count eight arms together. Put your pictures on your Wonder Wall. Want another challenge? Draw a pale octopus among sandy swirls, with one tiny eye waiting to be noticed.
Keep wondering
What clues help you spot something that is hiding in plain sight?
For grown-ups: This is a paper-and-crayon activity; no wildlife encounter is needed. For any real shore visit, choose a safe dry viewing place well back from the water, check local tide and wave conditions, and supervise children closely. Never touch, feed, lift, chase, or collect an octopus, reach into water or crevices, move rocks, or provoke an animal to change color. Do not treat these illustrations as a species-identification guide. Follow local wildlife guidance and leave if safe observation is not possible.
Revisit the clues in the story →
Curious Wild Ones · The Rock That Blinked · curiouswildones.com