Make ocean-inspired crafts.
Bring a classroom lesson on the sea and its inhabitants with ocean-themed crafts. An effective follow-up activity after a trip to the beach or aquarium, ocean crafts---such as colorful fish, googly-eyed octopi and even decorative sand castings---are fun to make and many of them only require basic craft supplies.But more than just an educational tool, these crafts can also double as a fun hands-on activity or decorations for an "Under the Sea" birthday party.
Fishies Swimming in the Sea
Turn Styrofoam eggs into colorful fish with foam-safe spray paint and strips of bright tissue paper. Adults can help kids spray a few coats of paint onto their eggs. After the paint has dried, kids can attach lengths of fringed and scalloped tissue paper to the egg---starting at the wider end---to simulate fish scales. A bundle of long tissue paper strips makes a festive tail. Kids can mount their completed fish on a Styrofoam base or secure a string around it and suspend it from the ceiling.
Handprint Fish Crafts
Help kids turn their handprints into their own pet fish with this simple craft project. Cut a round fish bowl shape from blue construction paper or have the children draw and color in a large fish bowl on a piece of white paper. The children then trace their hands on a piece of construction paper and cut around the traced edges. After they glue the hand onto the fishbowl, add a googly eye near the base of the palm. Adding dried beans to the bottom of the bowl and gluing on a few pony bead "bubbles" will add texture to this ocean craft project.
Paper Octopus in a Watercolor Sea
This ocean craft project combines painting and collage and it's easy enough for young children to complete. Painting a watercolor background gives children the opportunity to practice basic brush strokes and further develop fine motor skills. Encourage kids to paint with colors one might find in the ocean such as blue, green and purple. The octopus that sits in the watercolor ocean is composed of several pieces, which adults can cut out before embarking on the craft activity. Let children place each piece, starting with the octopus legs and ending with the body.
Sand Casting
Next time you take a trip to the beach, bring along some pre-mixed plaster and create castings on the beach. Have kids comb the beach for shells, bits of sea glass, pebbles and slivers of driftwood. When they've assembled a collection of found objects, let them dig into the sand and form a shallow shape (a simple fish shape or a starfish works well). The children can arrange the found objects at the bottom of the shaped hole and press then gently into the sand. When they're ready to make their casting, pour plaster into the shape and let it set for an hour. When kids dig out their plaster shape, the front will be covered with found objects and sand.
