Whalemobile Makes a Splash: The Huge, Inflatable Whale that May be Coming Soon to a School Near You

Early in the morning on Feb. 29, a class of first graders excitedly shuffled into the South Boston Catholic Academy gym. Waiting for them on the floor lay a massive, life-sized, inflatable whale, complete with eyes, flippers, and all the markings of the real-life humpback whale named Nile.

This humongous creature is the brainchild of Cynde B. McInnis, Indiana-born whale lover and educator.

“There was always this thing in my mind about taking whales back to Indiana to teach kids,” McInnis said in an interview with The Harvard Crimson.

Her original dream involved creating a whale version of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in order to achieve this transportability.

“If I got a really nice inflatable whale, then I could get a car that had whales on it,” McInnis said.

The aforementioned gigantic inflatable whale thus allowed her to move from the Whalemobile’s headquarters of Topsfield, Massachusetts to any school in the area that requests her whale experience.

After a different educator provided an introduction to Nile — with kids excitedly answering questions using the information they had learned in class — the group headed towards the entrance flap of the whale and took off their shoes. Once inside, the kids sat in an organized line as the educator pointed out all the significant parts of the whale’s interior, such as the heart, lungs, and rib cage, conveniently displayed on the inside of the whale.

As the lesson went on, the kids yelled out answers to questions, clearly thrilled to be sitting inside this inflatable behemoth.

“I love it because sometimes they’re too cool for school,” McInnis said. “But then they go in the whale, and you just see this childhood excitement on their face.”

Inside the whale, there certainly was a palpable excitement. By Courtesy of Alessandro M. M. Drake

Indeed, inside the whale there certainly was a palpable excitement. The educator’s presentation was concise and rehearsed, with diagrams and pictures to effectively supplement the facts she recited.

Interactivity was a main part of the lesson as well. The educator kept everyone engaged with the startling facts about whales, such as how they can eat two thousand pounds per day.

To McInnis, learning about whales is the most certain path to their effective conservation.

“It’s just getting kids to think that whales are cool, because if they don’t like them, they’re not ever going to be interested in saving them,” McInnis said.

Her central message about conservation was the importance of the ocean to all humans.

“We think that half the oxygen that we breathe comes from the ocean. So whether you live in Kansas or the coast of Massachusetts, you’re breathing,” McInnis said.

Along with being an intense passion of McInnis — who is also a whale watch crew member — whales are a perfect way to introduce kids to ocean conservation.

“I think that whales are such an awe-inspiring thing,” McInnis said.

To her, along with being beautiful creatures, whales serve as a bridge into environmentalism from a young age.

After the in-whale lesson wrapped up, the kids gathered around a map of Cape Cod and the Massachusetts Bay to learn all about migratory patterns and the geographic significance of different places with regard to whales. Throughout the lesson, kids asked and answered questions, and they were generally very invested in what the educator had to say.

“We just had a mom come in. She said her four year-old was in it yesterday, and all he’s talked about all week is whales,” McInnis said.

After the in-whale lesson wrapped up, the kids gathered around a map of Cape Cod. By Courtesy of Alessandro M. M. Drake

The entire lesson took less than half an hour, and yet in the short time span, the Whalemobile team managed to effectively communicate a staggering amount of information to the first-grade class. As the team wrapped up and the kids shuffled back out of the gym, inflatable Nile remained, looking as majestic as ever on the dusty floor, having completed his job as a wonderful tool to teach kids about our planet’s largest animals.​​

On the floor lay a massive, life-sized, inflatable whale. By Courtesy of Alessandro M. M. Drake

— Staff writer Alessandro M. M. Drake can be reached at alessandro.drake@thecrimson.com. He was probably more excited than the first graders to sit inside the humpback whale.