Before any of you actually get excited about the prospect of trading your children in for squids, this program isn’t anything like the Toys for Guns program of the early 90’s, there is no trading involved.  For now you’re stuck with your kids, but the Squids 4 Kids program is making it easier for them to get their hands on some frozen Humboldt squid goodness.  When I was in biology back in high school we were stuck with the regular frogs and fetal pig dissection fodder.  I remember my female lab partner giving the fetal pig a Cuban Necktie as we sat there waiting for class to start and I found myself both frightened and strangely turned on at the same time (probably more frightened though)…  There would have been none of that had we been filleting a squid in the name of science.  Squids 4 Kids offers a bunch of teaching materials including narrated video dissections of the squids and complete lesson plans.  The squids are offered free of charge as long as you pay $60 for shipping and agree to fill out a post dissection survey to help enhance the survey in the future.  The squid are not food quality and were in fact part of other research or donated by sport fisherman.

There’s more information as well as links to a few videos on Humboldt squid at the Squids 4 Kids website.

If you are a teacher and interested in participating in the program you can email Squids 4 Kids at: [email protected]