Coral reef room illuminates Eastern Passage classroom

Students at an elementary school in Eastern Passage, N.S., are learning more about what's in the ocean they see every day through a unique art project.

Under the guidance of a fine arts specialist with the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, the grades Primary to 3 students at Horizon Elementary created a glow-in-the-dark coral reef room featuring sea creatures they made from recycled materials, paper and craft supplies.

"This is a maritime community. Eastern Passage has made its living from the ocean for years. It's a fisher community. And we just thought it was kind of a neat connection," Melanie Kennedy-Conrad, the fine arts specialist, told CBC News.

The dark room comes to life under black lights that shine on sea creatures ranging from crabs, jellyfish and lobsters to clown fish, sea anemones, coral and a large octopus. A slight draft in the room makes the jellyfish move around like they actually would in the ocean.

To add to the atmosphere, Kennedy-Conrad, who has a background in glow-in-the-dark puppeteering, switches on ambient music.

Students got to explore the room for the first time about a week before the holiday break. As they walked in, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped.

"I really liked it because I like a lot of colours and it's really colourful," said Ava MacDonald, a Grade 2 student.

Kennedy-Conrad began working on the project back in June, but said the students started making the sea creatures over a three-week period beginning in November.

"When we were making the crabs, it was really fun," said Oliver Harpell, another Grade 2 student.

"We just like painted all of it with special painting and like glue and then we [covered] it … then we painted another layer," said Nolan Snow, a Grade 1 student.

Kennedy-Conrad, who created the giant yellow octopus that overlooks the room, said the project allowed the students to learn more about sea life.

"So when my Grade 2s came in to make the sea anemones, we talked about how they're venomous, but clown fish are not affected. And the clown fish live in the sea anemones, so they're protected, but the sea anemone benefits because the predators come after the clown fish, which feed the anemone. So there's all this kind of interwoven community pieces," she said.

But the highlight for her was the reaction of the students when they first walked into the room.

"It is absolutely magical to see their faces because the only thing that they saw before coming in was their own creature and not in the black light. And so for them to come around the corner and see this total wonder and magic on their faces that honestly, a few times it had me a little bit near tears," she said.

The project, which will be disassembled after the holiday break, was made possible through Halifax Regional Arts, which is funded through a supplementary funding tax from Halifax Regional Municipality.

Money goes toward funding for enhanced fine arts programming across the Halifax Regional Centre for Education. In addition to visual arts, it also offers extracurricular programs in music, drama and dance.