My daughters are really interested in ocean life and can not wait for our first trip to the beach this year, which is happening at the end of the month. While I love the ocean, and enjoy going to the beach, I am a bit weary of what lies beneath the waves, and rather sit on the sand. The last time I went into the ocean ( a few years back), something rubbed against my feet and I jumped onto a strangers back to get away from it. Turned out to be seaweed… In my mind, jumping on that stranger was totally justified. They didn’t mind, they found it rather funny actually. I’ll just keep my toes in the sand and out of the ocean this year.
Anyway… since summer is around the corner, and our first beach trip is upon us, I thought we could make some ocean themed crafts.
Paper Plate Fish
This adorable little fish was quick and easy to make. I had everything we needed in the house which is an added bonus. It is always great when I don’t have to order materials.
What You’ll Need:
Paper plate
Paint
Paint brush
Cupcake liners
Googly eyes
Glue
- Cut a triangle out of your plate. Save the triangle.
- Paint the plate any color you would like. Let it dry.
- You can use the triangle you cut out as the tail of your fish. Glue it to the back of your paper plate. Pointy side in.
- Glue on the googly eye.
- Fold each cupcake liner in half and then in half again. Glue them down onto the plate. You can make any pattern you would like. Cover the tail with the cupcake liners as well, and add a top fin.
Paper Plate Octopus
While I love making this octopus with my daughters, you have to watch the pointy ends to the pipe cleaners. I usually cover them in some way when my daughters are using them. Also, make sure an adult is always present when your child is making or playing with this octopus as the uncooked pasta noodles can be a choking hazard. Aside from that, this craft was so much fun to make and my daughters spent a great deal of time placing and removing the pasta noodles to create different looks.
What You’ll Need:
Pipe cleaners
Paper plate
Google eyes
Construction paper
Paint
Paintbrush
Uncooked pasta
Food Coloring & Vinegar (optional if you’d like to dye the pasta)
Single hole puncher
How To:
- If you are dying your pasta noodles, prepare them a couple of hours before you start this project so they have a chance to dry. There are so many different methods online to follow if you’d like to do this. I do suggest finding a method that uses vinegar instead of alcohol in case your child licks the pasta.
- Paint your paper plate and let it dry.
- Once your plate is dry, punch 8 single holes into the bottom of the plate.
- Push the pipe cleaners in the holes and tie them around the back of the plate. Make sure the pointed ends stay around back and doesn’t make their way to the front.
- Glue two google eyes by the octopus’ tentacles.
- Cut out three circles from construction paper and glue them to the top of your octopus.
Now you can let your child put the pasta onto the tentacles. They can try out different patters, they can count, whatever you’d like. If they lift the plate the noodles will fall off. You can secure them if you would like. We like to keep them loose so that we can keep trying out different looks.
Coffee Filter Turtle
My daughters and I love turtles! When we saw a version of these coffee filter turtles on Instagram @kidsactivitiesblog we knew we had to make our own version. They are so adorable, we wish they were real!
What You’ll Need
- Coffee filters
- Markers
- Green and blue construction paper
- Googly eyes
- Glue
- Water and pipette
How To:
- First cut out the legs and head for your turtle. Glue the legs and head down as seen below. Glue the googly eyes to the turtle’s head.
2. Flip your coffee filter upside down and flatten. Draw a pattern.
3. Using your pipette, drip water all over the coffee filter. Let it dry. You can glue the coffee filter down onto the turtle’s body or just place it on top so you can keep changing out the shell. Up to you.
If you would rather your turtle have a raised shell, try out the turtle down below.
What You’ll Need:
- Coffee filter
- Green and blue construction paper
- Googly eyes
- Glue
- Scissors
How To:
- First cut out the legs and head for your turtle. Glue the legs and head down as seen below. Glue the googly eyes to the turtle’s head.
2. Flip your coffee filter upside down so it looks like the raised turtle shell.
3. Cut out green cirlces (or whatever you’d like to add to your shell) and glue them on the shell.
4. Place the shell over the turtles body. We didn’t glue this one down. We wanted to make many different shells and change them out.
That’s it for today. We hope to try out different ocean themed crafts this summer. Do you know any fun ones? Comment down below?
*Adult supervision is required*