Why Salmon Leap Waterfalls and Return to Their Birth River — Simple Explanation for a 5-year-old

Salmon Story

Salmon are fish that start life as tiny babies in a river. When they grow up, they swim all the way to the ocean. Later, they find the same river where they were born and swim back to lay eggs.

Step-by-step

1. Step 1: Baby salmon hatch in a river.
2. Step 2: They grow and then swim to the ocean to live for a while.
3. Step 3: When they are grown, they remember their river and swim back to it.
4. Step 4: On the way, they sometimes must jump up over rocks and small waterfalls to keep going.
5. Step 5: They reach the place where they were born and make new baby salmon.

How do they know where to go?

Salmon have a very good nose for the river. When they were babies, the river left a special smell. When they come back, they smell that same river and follow it home.

How do they jump waterfalls?

Salmon have strong tails and long bodies. They swim fast, bend their bodies, and push hard with their tails. Then they leap up out of the water and land on the next pool. If they can't make it the first time, they try again and rest on rocks until they can jump again.

Fun pretend activity

Let’s pretend to be salmon!

• Wiggle like a fish (move your body side to side).
• Take a short run and jump (like jumping over a small pillow) to pretend you are jumping a waterfall.
• Find a spot in the room that smells like "home" (a favorite toy) and say, "I found my river!"

Good job! Salmon are strong little swimmers and very good at finding their way home.