10 EASY Crab Crafts for Preschoolers (2023)
Looking for some crab crafts for preschoolers?
I have 10 fun and easy crab crafts that your preschoolers will LOVE! These crafts are perfect for an ocean-themed unit, letter C activities, or fun!
Let’s get started with some awesome crab crafts.
Craft #1: Paper Plate Crab Craft
This crab craft for preschoolers is the perfect ocean craft for kids! They can even play with it!
You just need a few supplies to pull this cute activity.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper plate
- red acrylic paint
- paintbrush
- cardstock
- google eyes
- scissors
- hot glue
B. Set-up
Fold a paper plate in half and paint it red.
Fold a piece of red cardstock in half! Then, create a rectangle for the eyes, claws, and two sets of legs. Do this on the crease of the paper, so it makes double (makes it go faster!)
C. Activity
Cut out all the parts made from cardstock and glue them on using hot glue if you are in a rush. If you aren’t, you can use regular glue.
Add some googly eyes on the rectangles!
You can rock these back and forth if placed on a flat surface for some extra fun.
RELATED: Summer Crafts for Kids
Craft #2: Handprint Crab Craft
I have to include handprint crafts in all my animal articles! They are just too cute.
This crab craft for preschoolers is a must-try activity, and it’s really simple to do.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardstock paper
- glue stick
- googly eyes
- glue
- scissors
- pencil
- craft shells
B. Set-up
Fold a piece of red cardstock paper in half. Then, trace your child’s handprint and cut them out.
C. Activity
Create a sand beach by drawing a few waves on yellow paper. Then, cut it out and paste it onto the bottom of the blue paper.
Place the handprints next to each and place one slightly on top of the other. Then, use a glue stick to glue them down onto the blue paper on top of the sand.
Then, make claws for the crab using red paper, cut them out, and glue them down to touch the yellow paper. Also, make pinchers and paste them on top of the index fingers on both sides.
Lastly, add googly eyes and shells at the bottom of the sand!
Craft #3: Cupcake Tin Crabs
Your kids will love this unique way to make crabs!
Use the back of a muffin tin. This is a simple activity and a great way to make a crab craft for preschoolers!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- muffin tin
- washable paint
- paintbrush
- easel paper
- marker
- googly eyes
B. Set-up
Flip the muffin tin on the back and have the kids paint the bottoms of each section. They can use one color or multiple colors!
Tape a piece of easel paper down to a flat surface.
C. Activity
Flip the tray back and place it down on the easel paper. Don’t slide the tray around, or it’ll smear the circles.
Draw legs and claws for each of the crabs! Then, you can add on googly eyes!
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Craft #4: Bottle Cap Crab Craft
I love being able to reuse items to create crafts! For example, the bottle caps made the perfect body for a crab craft!
It’s also wonderful to talk to your kids about the importance of recycling. This is a fun way to talk about how you can make art out of recycled materials.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper plate
- acrylic paint
- bottle caps
- pipe cleaners
- googly eyes
- glue
- hot glue
- sand
- shells
- poms
B. Set-up
Paint a paper plate half blue and brown using acrylic paint. Then, let it dry for about 45 minutes.
While waiting for it to dry, you can paint the bottle caps using acrylic paint. Also, cut your pipe cleaners to create claws, pinchers, and eyes.
C. Activity
When everything is dry, your little one will use poms to paint the sun and some clouds at the top of the plate.
You will hot glue the claws, pinchers, and eyes on the bottle caps.
Add a thin layer of glue down on the brown part of the paper plate. Then, have the kids sprinkle sand onto the plate. They can also use glue to stick small shells on the sand.
Lastly, hot glue the bottle caps onto the paper plate! What a cool recycled crab craft!
Craft #5: Summer Color by Code
This color-by-code summer activity is a fun way for kids to work on numbers! There is a crab in this FREE pack of 7 printables.
My son loves the color-by-code printables SO much! They are by far his favorite learning activity.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- Color by Code sheets
- crayons
- markers
Click HERE for your FREE Summer Color by Code
B. Set-up
Print off the sheets that you want to use!
C. Activity
Make sure your child understands how to read the key at the top of the page. Then, they will color each number in the picture based on what the key says.
These are my kid’s favorite out of all the printables I create. They love revealing the picture at the end!
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Craft #6: Shell Crab Craft
Using seashells is the PERFECT way to make a crab craft for preschoolers!
We had a bunch of shells from a trip that we went on just sitting in my son’s room. He was so excited to put them to use!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardstock paper
- googly eyes
- pipe cleaners
- glue
- hot glue
- craft seashells or ones you have!
- acrylic paint markers
B. Set-up
Create the crab’s claws and pinchers out of cardstock paper. We chose to use red paper, but you can use other colors!
We placed the shells onto the paper and created the pieces to make sure they would fit and look good!
Here is what they look like from above!
C. Activity
Have the kids use acrylic paint markers to paint the seashells different colors! The acrylic paint markers are a great supply to use! It’s less messy than having to worry about painting. However, using acrylic paints would work as well!
While waiting for the shells to dry, cut a pipe cleaner into several small pieces. Bend them in an L shape. Add a little hot glue to the bottom part of the L and stick it to the bottom of the shell. Then, hot glue eyes at the top of the pipe cleaners!
Once the shell is dry, the adult will have to hot glue the claws and pinchers to the shell to get them to stick.
Check out your pretty crabs!! My kids put these in their rooms for decoration!
RELATED: Summer Crafts for KidsÂ
Craft #7: Cupcake Liner Crab Craft
Have you ever used cupcake liners to craft crafts? It is a fun and different supply that the kids will love using.
They make really cute crabs, and they are easy for preschoolers to make.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cupcake liners
- glue stick
- pipe cleaners
- glue
- paper
- googly eyes
- cotton ball
- white paint
- markers
- shells
B. Set-up
Create sand by creating waves with a pencil, cut it out, and paste it to blue paper.
Then, have the kids fold mini cupcake liners in half. They will glue the sides together, so it sticks. Then, they will paste it onto the blue paper.
C. Activity
Have the kids cut small pieces of pipe cleaners to be the crab’s claws. They will glue these pieces below the cupcake liner. We used four short pieces of the pipe cleaners, and they color matched them to the colors of the cupcake liners we had.
Then, they will draw on the pinchers using markers! To finish the crabs, add googly eyes to each crab.
For the background, flatten a yellow cupcake liner to be the sun. Lastly, use a cotton ball and dip it into white paint to make clouds! This is such a cute crab craft that makes you feel like you are on the beach!
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Craft #8: Crab Sponge Craft
Sponges make the perfect prints for crafting! Plus, they are easy for the kids to hold and use.
This crab craft for preschoolers is fun and adorable to create.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- sponges
- acrylic paint
- pipe cleaners
- scissors
- glue
- googly eyes
- paper
- acrylic paint markers
- markers
B. Set-up
Create a circle shape using a Sharpie marker on a sponge.
Also, create sand for the crabs by making a few waves on yellow paper. Then, cut it out and paste it onto white or blue paper.
C. Activity
Have the kids paint the sponge using red acrylic paint. Then, they will flip it over and create a few prints on the paper. They can add more paint to the sponge each time if they need to!
Cut a pipe cleaner into several parts. We used two small pipe cleaner pieces and twisted them together to make the pinchers. Then, use glue to stick them on each crab.
To finish the craft, add googly eyes, draw on the claws for the crab, and use an acrylic paint marker to make a smile or face for each crab!
Craft #9: Paper Plate Moana Craft
I am a HUGE Disney fan. This crab craft for preschoolers is PERFECT because most kids love Disney movies!
My kids love Tamatoa from Moana, so I knew I had to include this Disney craft in my crab crafts article.
How to do this craft
A. Materials you need
- paper plate
- gold acrylic paint
- sequins
- glue
- scissors
- pipe cleaners
- cardstock paper
- googly eyes
- hot glue
B. Set-up
Fold a paper plate in half and paint the front gold using acrylic glitter paint. Then, add on gold or colored sequins!
Wait for the paper plate to dry! This will take about 45 minutes to completely dry.
C. Activity
While waiting for the shell to dry, create the crab’s claws, pinchers, and head out of purple cardstock paper.
Hot glue the paper plate together so the shell will stay down. Then, use a glue stick to glue all the paper pieces onto the crab. You can also hot glue these pieces to ensure they won’t fall off.
Use hot-glue to glue pipe cleaners to the back of the head of the crab. Then, glue googly eyes on the top of the pipe cleaners.
Lastly, draw on a smile and add teeth! One of the main characteristics of Tamatoa is his smile! We added some gold sparkles to his teeth too.
RELATED: Paper Plate Crafts for Kids
Craft #10: TP Roll Print Crabs
Looking for a simple crab craft for preschoolers? This couldn’t be easier!
I LOVE TP printed crafts. I keep a stash of toilet paper rolls in my craft supplies area.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- TP rolls
- washable paint
- googly eyes
- glue
- markers
- cardstock paper
- watercolors
- paintbrush
B. Set-up
Grab your paint and add it to a paint tray.
C. Activity
Have your kids dip the TP rolls end into the paint and make prints on white paper. When they make the prints, make sure they pick up the roll slowly because sometimes the roll makes a bubble and makes a splat.
This actually happened to us; it’s okay if that happens; just try to have them go slowly so it won’t make huge splat marks.
Then, use watercolors to paint the inside of each crab! Create the pinchers and claws using markers. This is a fun color matching activity for kids too!
Lastly, draw stems for the eyes and glue on googly eyes!
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Final Thoughts and Conclusion
I hope you have found some crabs crafts for preschoolers that they will LOVE!
Let me know in the comments below if you try any of these crafts. I’d love to hear how it went.
Happy crafting!
Deena
