As keiki make their way up the stairs and out of Maui Ocean Center’s Turtle Lagoon, a wooden box filled with colorful ukuleles often catches their eye.
“We end up playing the ABCs, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ and the ‘Wheels on the Bus’,” said Arlie-Avery Asiu, who teaches free ukulele lessons three times a week at the aquarium. “It’s so cool for the parents to see their kids, even if they can’t play, just to see them strumming along.”
Whether it’s playing the uke or creating a piece of original art with a printing press, guests at Maui Ocean Center are offered a variety of cultural and artistic experiences.
Hex Press Maui sets up its mobile printmaking studio twice a week at the aquarium. They’ve created custom T-shirts for several Maui Ocean Center events, including the popular “Sharks After Dark” date nights.
This year, Hex Press has given guests the opportunity to create an ocean-themed piece of art by tracing a marine life illustration — a hammerhead shark, seahorse and unicorn fish, just to name a few — onto a piece of foam and then printing it on a postcard-size piece of watercolor paper.
“People love it. Usually, people haven’t used a printing press before,” said Tia Brady, who co-owns Hex Press and is the Print Studio Manager at the Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center in Makawao. “Grown-ups get just as much out of it as the kids do.”
Another art project that’s offered each week is kapa making. Plus, there’s wood carving demonstrations and coconut palm weaving.
Guests can also talk story with Gregory “Gigi” Gomes as he handcrafts traditional Hawaiian fishing nets.
“This is a dying art,” Gomes said, noting that the type of net depends on the species of fish being caught.
“Our cultural practitioners in the ‘Hawaiians and the Sea’ exhibit really add to the story we’re telling as they bring an essential historical component,” said Tiara Fernandez, the aquarium’s education director.
Fernandez said one of the most popular keiki activities in the park is a Hawaiian petroglyph activity in which children are given a “Ki‘i Pohaku Passport.”
There are 12 replicas of ki‘i pohaku — centuries-old Hawaiian rock carvings — throughout Maui Ocean Center. These etchings display petroglyphs along with Hawaiian words for “surfer,” “canoe” and “fish,” among others.
“As long as the weather is not too windy or rainy, we have a special imprinting tool at each station to rub an image of the ki‘i pohaku,” Fernandez said. “It’s not only fun, but educational for the whole ‘ohana.”
