10 Fabulous Ocean Crafts for Preschoolers and Kids

World Ocean Day is a day when kids get to learn about their friends living under the sea. Ocean crafts and activities are a terrific way to engage with your kids and teach them the wonders of the sea. And we’ve got plenty of activities to boot.

Beautiful and Creative Ocean Craft for Children

You don’t need a lot of supplies for these activities. Just a bit of creativity and a willingness to have fun. Your kids can follow along but you take charge when it comes to handling the glueing and cutting with the scissors.

1. Cute Pufferfish Craft

When it comes to ocean theme crafts for preschoolers, Pufferfish paper plates take the cake. They are very easy to make and require a few simple household supplies.

Supplies: 

• White paper plates
• Tempera paint
• Paintbrushes
• Cotton swabs (Q-tips)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Colored construction paper scraps
• Markers or crayons

How To Make:

• Start out by painting the white paper plates with your favorite tempura paint for the body of the Pufferfish. You can get creative with this step and use a variety of colors and shades.
• Dip your cotton swabs in a different color of paint and make spots for the body of the Pufferfish using the Q-tips. You should get a dotted patterning.
• Make slits around the edges of your paper plate using the scissors and remove any tabs between them. There should be spacing between the spines. Trim the spines further and refine them.
• Get your colored construction paper out or use construction paper scraps for the next step. What you want to do now is make cutouts of the construction paper to make the two fins and glue that to the Pufferfish’s body.
• Use white paper to cut out two eyes and a black marker to fill in the iris. Glue that to the plates and draw a smile below the eyes to complete the Pufferfish’s face. Your beautiful Pufferfish paper plates are now ready to be showed off!

2. Fun Ocean Slime

Ocean Slime is a delight to play with and if you’re worried about shopping for expensive toxic ones, why not make your very own at home? You can make as many batches as you’d like and these are non-toxic!

Supplies:

• Liquid glue (1/2 cup)
• Liquid watercolors
• Water (1/2 cup)
• Glitter
• Bowl and a jar
• Liquid starch (1/2 cup)

How to Make: 

• Pour water and liquid glue in a bowl. Mix well and add liquid watercolor to this mix. You can use food coloring as well if you prefer something else besides liquid watercolor.
• Add a mix of the glitter of different colors to make it look really creative. Silver, green, and turquoise blue make for good glitter color choices.
• Combine the liquid starch with the mixture and stir it well.
• When you notice the mix get thick and level off your spoon, begin kneading by hand. Check the consistency and make sure it’s nice, stretchy, and not too sticky. Store this in an airtight jar and keep in a cool dark place. It will last you for up to two weeks. You can use the slime with your other ocean art activities for added fun!

3. Jellyfish CD Craft

Jellyfish is an interesting sea creature and your kids will love learning about them by making this CD Craft.

Supplies:

• Squiggly ribbons.
• Old CD.
• Googly eyes
• Scissors.
• Glue stick.

How to Make:

• Cut out the shapes for the eyes, body, and rest of the Jellyfish. The cutouts will serve as your reference points.
• Trace the cutouts on a 2mm felt or colored construction paper. Glue the different construction paper cutouts parts of the Jellyfish onto an old CD.
• For the tentacles, you can use squiggly ribbons of different colors and use glue to make them stick. You could also go with wool/yarn threads of different colors if you don’t like squiggly ribbons.
• Add the googly eyes to the top of the body for making the face. Your cute Jellyfish craft is now ready!

4. Submarine Paper Plate

Take your kids on an underwater adventure by telling them how submarines work. Better yet – show them with these Submarine Paper plate ocean crafts!

Source: Pinterest

Supplies: 

• Assorted pens
• Paper plate
• Scissors
• Yellow paint
• Tissue paper
• Plain paper
• Colored paper
• Glue

How to Make: 

• Fold a paper plate in half and sketch the outlines for the cabin and propeller of the submarine.
• Paint the paper plate in yellow and don’t worry about going beyond the lines.
• Decorate the rim of your paper plate using torn up tissue paper. Go with blue color for the ocean theme.
• On a piece of paper, draw out the windows for your submarine and color them in. Use scissors to cut them out and glue to attach to your submarine paper plate.
• Draw out the fish on another piece of paper and repeat the process. Attach the fish to the blue region.
• Using your scissors, cut out the cabin portion of your submarine and use rolled up tape to glue up the inside halves of the submarine paper plate to hold it in place. You’ve now got yourself a submarine paper plate that can be rocked.

5. Paper Plate Whale

We love paper plate crafts because of how simple and easy they are to make. The results are never disappointing and this paper plate whale will show you exactly that. It’s one of our favorite ocean animal crafts.

Source: Pinterest

Supplies: 

• Blue paint
• Blue paper
• Black marker
• Paper plate
• Glue
• Googly eye
• Scissors

How to Make: 

• Color your paper plate blue using the blue paint and let it dry completely.
• Cut a ¼ section of the paper plate longitudinally. This piece will be the fin.
• Use the blue paper to make cutout shapes for the water coming out of the whale. Make a tail cut-out using the blue paper and connect it with the fin to the whale’s body.
• Add the googly eyes to the top left part of the body and draw a smile using the black marker. Glue the water cutout you made before to the top head of the body. Your adorable paper plate whale is now done!

6. Rainbow Octopus

Kids will enjoy making an octopus at home and paint it all over. You don’t require a lot of time or materials for this. Enjoy!

Supplies:

• Chenille stems
• Washable paints
• Googly eyes
• Foam sheet
• Pudding cup

How to Make:

• On a tray, place a pudding cup upside down. Press it firmly from the top and start painting the body. You can use bottle caps to pour the paints and mix color combinations.
• Rotate the tray and keep painting so that you can let the other parts of the cup dry out and not get affected.
• Make a cutout from the foam sheet and glue it to the top of your cup.
• After it dries, punch holes around the edges of the cup to insert the chenille stems. Make 8 holes and pass the stems through them. Bend the ends and your Octopus legs are ready. You’re done!

7. Recycled Foam Fish

You can use recycled chair foam to give an interesting sensory experience to your kids. Foam fishes are a favorite activity to do among ocean crafts for toddlers and preschoolers.

Supplies:

• Chair foam
• Onion mesh bag
• Chenille stems
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly eyes

How to Make:

• Cut out the chair foam in a fish shape. Make sure the size of your shape is smaller than an onion mesh bag. You’ll be using the mesh bag for creating the fins and body patterning.
• Fit the fish foam into the mesh bag and secure it snuggly. Use the excess part of the mesh bag to twist and create the tail. Secure the tail by using a chenille stem and twisting it tightly in place.
• Add the googly eyes to the front of the foam body and use glue to stick it in place. Cut out a piece of the mesh bag and attach it to the body with glue to make the fin.
• Your foam fish is done!

8. Friendly Crab

You can make a friendly crab using a simple egg carton. You will be surprised by how easy it is to make.

Supplies:

• One egg carton (empty)
• Acrylic paints
• Paintbrush
• Pipe cleaners
• Craft glue
• Googly eyes
• Scissors

How to Make:

• Cut one cup out from the empty egg carton. You are going to make the crab’s body out of this which is why you want to make sure you get the cut precise. You can use a craft knife for this step.
• Trim the edges and paint the egg cup in a brick red color. Paint both the inside and outside and set the egg cup aside to let the paint dry.
• Get eight pipe cleaners (2-inches length) for the legs, 2 cuts for the claws (4 to 6 inches of length), and two more cuts for making the eyes bulge out (half-inch here).
• Attach the legs to the crab’s body using glue and place them with symmetrical spacing.
• Twist the shorter lengths for the claws and curl into a Y-shape. Attach that with glue near the bottom front of the body.
• For the shortest pipe cleaner cut (1/2-inch), put a glue dot to the back of the googly eyes and stick it with the ½ inch pipe cleaner. Add that to the top of the crab’s body using enough glue. You’re done!

9. Starfish Button Craft

Among ocean-themed crafts, the Starfish Button Craft is a hit for kids.

Source: Pinterest

Supplies:

• Scissors
• Glue
• Buttons
• Craft paper

How to Make:

• Make a cutout of a starfish. Place the cutout on top of craft paper and trace the outlines or edges
• Decorate your starfish outline by glueing buttons of different shapes, colors, and sizes.
• Let the glue dry and hang your starfish button craft anywhere you like where kids can press on the buttons and play with.

10. Seashell Ocean Craft

Your kids will enjoy tying and making seashells with their hands for this activity. Get a table and a pile of newspapers ready for some messy fun!

Supplies:

• Paper plate
• Scissors
• Paints
• Brushes
• Colored yarn
• Single-hole punching machine

How to Make:

• Let your kids paint the paper plates in their favorite colors. Encourage them to make creative patterns and designs. Let the paint dry.
• Cut out the paper plates in a seashell shape using a pair of scissors.
• Using the punching machine, make four holes at the bottom (close to each other) and four at the top edge of the rim (should be nicely spaced out).
• Ask your kids to lace the holes using the yarn from one end to the next. Once they’re done, tie a knot, trim the excess and spray glitter on the seashells for the finish.

Now that you’ve had a taste of how much fun making these crafts, it’s time you gather the supplies and call your kids. You’ll have hours of fun and the best part is that it will challenge their creativity, dexterity and fine motor skills.

Also Read:

Spring Crafts for Toddlers, Preschoolers and Children
Creative Paper Craft Ideas for Children
Best Out of Waste Material Craft Ideas for Children