10 Easy Jellyfish Crafts for Preschoolers (2023)
Looking for jellyfish crafts for preschoolers?
I have 10 easy and cute jellyfish craft ideas that your preschoolers will LOVE!
Let’s get started.
Craft #1: Fruit Loop Jellyfish Threading
We LOVE using Fruit Loops for activities. So adding this fun snack in is always a huge hit.
This jellyfish activity is a great ocean craft for kids! Especially toddlers and preschoolers.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- art tray
- Fruit Loops
- pipe cleaners
- tape
- paper
B. Set-up
Create a jellyfish shape out of paper and crayons! Then, let your little one color the jellyfish!
Grab some pipe cleaners and tape them to the back of the jellyfish.
C. Activity
Your child should work on color sorting by threading the correct color Fruit Loop on the pipe cleaners!
You can have them sort the Fruit Loops by color first, or they can grab them from a bowl and place them on the pipe cleaner.
RELATED: How to Teach your Toddler Colors
Craft #2: Salt Painted Jellyfish
This jellyfish craft for preschoolers is too much fun. The process of salt painting is easy and looks awesome at the end.
Watching the colors flow through the salt is neat.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardboard/cardstock paper
- watercolors
- paintbrush
- salt
- glue
- pencil
- googly eyes
B. Set-up
Draw a jellyfish shape on cardboard or cardstock paper. Then, outline your drawing with school glue. Next, dump table salt on the glue, then remove the excess salt into the trash.
You can either wait for the salt to dry or do this craft immediately.
C. Activity
Have the kids use watercolors to paint the salt! I love using a mix of rainbow colors. It always turns out so pretty!
Then, add some googly eyes to the top of the jellyfish!
This is such a cool process art activity. Once you try salt painting, you’ll want to try it with many different themes.
Craft #3: Jellyfish Cutting Craft
I love when crafts can be educational. This jellyfish craft for preschoolers is great because it can help work on scissor skills.
It’s also the easiest set-up, which I always appreciate!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper
- scissors
- tape
- Sharpie
B. Set-up
Create a jellyfish head from paper! Then, create rainbow strips and tape them to the back of the jellyfish’s head.
Draw lines of each strip of paper. Depending on your child’s skills, you can make this as easy or hard as you’d like. For beginners, I would stick with straight lines. You can make more complicated lines like zig-zags or curves for older kids.
C. Activity
Have the kids use scissors to cut on the lines you created!
RELATED: Fine Motor Skill Activities
Craft #4: Paper Bowl Jellyfish
Out of all the jellyfish crafts for preschoolers that I have shared, these were my kid’s favorite.
They are hanging up in my kid’s room for decorations!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper bowls
- acrylic paint
- streamer
- tape
- googly eyes
- glue
- circle paintbrush
- paintbrush
- thread
B. Set-up
Paint paper bowls with acrylic paint. Next, we added some dots on each jellyfish using a circle paintbrush.
Wait for them to dry (15-20 minutes).
C. Activity
Poke a hole at the top of the bowl using a pencil. Then, stick a piece of thread through the hole and tape it at the bottom. This will make it so the jellyfish can be hung up.
Tape streamer at the bottom of the bowls. Then, glue on googly eyes to the jellyfish!
Hang up or play with the jellyfish!
Craft #5: Name Jellyfish Craft
Name crafts are an excellent way for kids to practice building their name!
Even if your kids already know how to build their name, they love seeing it in craft form! This jellyfish craft for preschoolers is so fun!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardstock paper
- poms
- clothespins
- paint
- colored paper
- marker
B. Set-up
Use poms and paint to paint the background of the white paper! This is a fun process, and the kids will love making the ocean scene.
While they are painting, you can draw the pieces for the jellyfish! Draw and cut out as many tentacles as you need for your child to build their name.
C. Activity
The kids will paste the tentacles on the back of the head of the jellyfish. Then, they will write the letters of their name on each tentacle!
If they are not writing yet, you can do this part for them, and they can place them in order of their name.
Add googly eyes and a smile to the jellyfish and glue it onto the ocean scene they created!
RELATED: Fine Motor Activities for Kids
Craft #6: Paper Bag Jellyfish
We have a ton of paper bags around here for school lunches! I wanted to see what fun creations we could make out of them.
This jellyfish craft for preschoolers is SUPER easy, and they turn out really cool.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper bag
- acrylic paint
- googly eyes
- glue
- zig-zag scissors
B. Set-up
Paint the paper bag using acrylic paint. You can even paint the top part one color and the bottom part another color!
C. Activity
When the paper bag is dry, use the scissors to make the tentacles for the jellyfish.
Then, add some googly eyes and a smile for your jellyfish! In the end, the kids can even stick their hand through the top and play with it like a puppet.
Craft #7: Paper Plate Jellyfish
The ribbon for this jellyfish craft for preschoolers is so colorful and fun.
They will love playing with the ribbon. They can even work on some scissor skills too!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- paper plate
- acrylic paint
- paintbrush
- googly eyes
- ribbon
- tape
B. Set-up
Cut the paper plate in half and have the kids paint it using acrylic paint. Once dry, they can add on a smile and googly eyes!
C. Activity
Unwrap some ribbon and cut it to make the jellyfish’s tentacles! This can also be a great cutting activity for kids.
They will tape the ribbon to the back of the paper plate. They can choose one color or use a bunch of different colors.
This turns out so cool! To hang this up, poke a hole through the top of the plate and thread a piece of ribbon through.
Craft #8: Sponge Painted Jellyfish
We love using sponges for crafting. It’s super easy to make fun shapes out of sponges.
This is a jellyfish craft for preschoolers that can work on fine motor skills! Adding learning into crafting will make it more memorable for the kids.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- sponges
- scissors
- Sharpie
- paint
- googly eyes
- markers
- paper
B. Set-up
Draw a jellyfish on paper with a pencil. Then, cut a sponge into 6 different rectangle pieces!
C. Activity
Have the kids dip the sponges into different colored paints to paint the jellyfish.
We chose to do rainbow colors. But, you can choose to use any color you want! The sponges leave a cool texture to the craft.
Add some googly eyes on, and you have a cute sponge-painted jellyfish!
RELATED: Kindergarten ActivitiesÂ
Craft #9: Cupcake Liner Jellies
Have you ever used a cupcake liner for crafting? They make the cutest crafts!
So this is actually an octopus craft because, as you can see, I added some Fruit Loops on there for the suckers. It can be a jellyfish if you don’t add them in!
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cupcake liners
- paper
- scissors
- glue stick
- tape
- googly eyes
- pencil
B. Set-up
Cut strips of paper to be the tentacles for the octopus. Then, curl the ends of each strip by rolling a pencil at the bottom of each strip, pull it out, and see the curl!
C. Activity
Attach the paper strips to the cupcake liner by using a glue stick or tape. We added 8 on for the octopus, so that amount works well!
Lastly, add googly eyes to the cupcake liner, and you have the cutest little octopus craft!
Craft #10: Watercolor Resist Jellyfish
Watercolor resist activities are so cool because it has an element of surprise!
The jellyfish craft for preschoolers will get your kids excited to reveal what their jellyfish will look like at the end.
How to do this activity
A. Materials you need
- cardstock paper
- watercolor paints
- paintbrush
- white crayon
- water
B. Set-up
On white paper, draw a jellyfish shape using a white crayon. You want to make this bold enough so it’ll show up when the kids paint on it.
C. Activity
Have the kids use watercolors to paint on the paper to reveal the jellyfish. They can use one color or multiple colors! We chose to use rainbow colors on the page.
The kids LOVE the result and love seeing their art project come to life at the end.
This is such a simple and fun activity.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
I hope you found some jellyfish crafts for preschoolers that you can try with your kids at home or in the classroom!
These would go along perfectly with an ocean-themed animal unit!
I’d love to hear what your favorite craft was in this article. Let me know if you try any of these by commenting below.
Happy Crafting!
Deena
Where can I find the adorable jelly fish head to print?!