Dive into 35+ ocean crafts for kids featuring whales, sharks, turtles, jellyfish, and more. Perfect for summer, classrooms, and rainy days!
If your house is anything like mine, there are certain topics that never go out of style. Dinosaurs. Space. Unicorns. And of course, the ocean.
There’s just something magical about it.
Maybe it’s the colorful fish, friendly dolphins, giant whales, or mysterious creatures hiding deep beneath the waves. Whatever the reason, ocean crafts are always a hit with kids. They combine creativity, imagination, and just enough learning to keep everyone happy.
The best part? There are so many directions you can go. One day your little artists can create a paper plate whale. The next day they can build an underwater diorama, make a jellyfish mobile, or design an entire ocean scene filled with sea turtles and sharks.
These ocean crafts for kids are perfect for summer afternoons, rainy days, classroom activities, homeschool projects, and ocean-themed birthday parties.
Many are simple enough for toddlers to enjoy with a little help, while others are ideal for preschoolers, kindergarten students, and older children who love getting creative.
You’ll also find plenty of opportunities to practice important skills along the way. Cutting, gluing, painting, and assembling projects help strengthen fine motor skills while encouraging creativity and problem-solving.
If you’re planning an ocean lesson, these hands-on activities are a fun way to reinforce learning without it feeling like schoolwork.
Whether you’re crafting with toddlers at home, planning activities for preschoolers, creating an ocean unit for kindergarten, or simply looking for fun projects to keep kids busy, this collection has something for everyone.
So gather your paper plates, paint, glue, and recycled materials. It’s time to dive into some seriously fun ocean crafts!
Under the Sea Arts and Crafts
1
Paper Plate Whale
These adorable whale puppets are perfect for storytelling, book-themed activities, and creative play long after crafting ends.
Ocean sensory bins offer a unique blend of sensory exploration and imaginative play! From vibrant blue rice mimicking the ocean floor to tactile sea shells and whimsical ocean animal figurines, each element invites children to dive deep into an underwater adventure filled with excitement and discovery.
Create adorable sea turtles from paper bowls and craft supplies. This is a fun craft for summer break, and it also goes well with a classroom ocean unit.
Ever imagine swimming with the sharks (the friendly ones of course)? Create a sun catcher porthole to watch sharks through! Great idea for imaginative play.
You'll enjoy adding ocean details with oil pastels to this painting, then covering it all with a beautiful blue-green watercolor wash. This project is a great one to do over several days, or turn into a mixed media project by adding collage pieces.
Learn how to create three versions: Ocean Waves, Mini Aquarium, and Under the Sea! Toddlers love shaking these ocean-themed sensory bottles while exploring movement, color, and underwater-inspired sensory experiences.
Make a super fun crab with a seashell, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners! You can make them whatever fun colors you like. Then check out more seashell creatures.
Make a tropical reef craft that lights up in the dark! This is a fun summer craft to help kids learn about and appreciate our planet’s coral reefs. Visit the post to see how it glows.
You’ve seen them in touch pools at the aquarium or maybe even in tide pools at the beach, starfish or sea stars that is! Learn about fascinating sea stars while sculpting your own durable salt dough version for display or play.
Turn a simple picture frame into a colorful beach keepsake using watercolor painting techniques on shells! Glue them to the frame to make a unique project you'll want to display all year.
Colored sand is super simple and fun to make! The kids will think it is magic watching the sand turn a color. This is non-toxic – it is important to use a vegan food dye as to not hurt the water supply or animals.
These funny runaway paper cup crabs use kinetic energy to scuttle sideways, bringing a touch of hilarity to your craft projects! By attaching simple mechanisms to the bottom of decorated paper cups, you can create playful crustaceans that scoot along the ground.
Make a fun whale phone holder out of air dry clay. This simple craft is great fun and you can keep it forever to prop up your phone! You could make these phone holders as DIY gifts to give to friends and loved ones.
Which of these ocean crafts do you want to try first? Let me know in the comments below and then check out these other great craft collections with various themes and supplies:
