20 FUN Ocean Crafts for Preschoolers (2023)

Looking for ocean crafts for preschoolers?

I have 20+ easy and fun ocean crafts for preschoolers they will LOVE! These crafts would go a long, perfect with an ocean-themed unit.

Let’s get started!

Craft #1: Watercolor Resist Fish Craft

This ocean craft for preschoolers was my kid’s favorite activity! They love the element of surprise for this craft.

It’s always fun to watch the lines or designs appear doing watercolor resist projects. This fish is the perfect activity for an ocean-themed activity.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cardstock paper
watercolors
white crayon
googly eyes
glue
marker

B. Set-up

Draw a fish shape using a pencil on cardstock paper and cut it out.

Draw lines on the fish using a white crayon. You need to make these lines bold enough to pop out when the kids paint over them.

C. Activity

Have the kids paint the fish using watercolors. They can use one color or multiple colors.

If the kids can see the white lines, they can also make a rainbow fish (like you see above).

Add a googly eye on and make a smile using a marker! This is such a simple and fun ocean craft for kids.

RELATED: Easy Toddler Activities

Craft #2: Whale Cup Craft

This ocean craft for preschoolers is just TOO cute! It’s also a great way to reuse supplies.

Can you believe these were green cups that I had leftover from St. Patrick’s Day? You would never know!

I have to show both the back and front to you guys so you can see how cute the entire craft is!

Crafting with cups is simple and fun for kids to create!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

View Amazon’s Price

B. Set-up

Paint the cups using acrylic paint. In this case, I needed to do several layers, so the green didn’t show up on the cups.

While it’s drying, create the flippers and tail for the whale.

C. Activity

Use hot glue to glue on the flippers and tail once the cup is dry.

Poke a hole at the top of the cup using a pencil. Then, curl some pipe cleaners at the top and have the kids stick them inside the top of the cup to be the water coming out of the whales’ spout!

Add some googly eyes on the front, and you have some cute little whales!

RELATED: Letter W Crafts and Activities

Craft #3: Cupcake Liner Octopus Craft

Have you ever used a cupcake liner for crafting? They make the cutest crafts!

This cupcake liner octopus craft is the perfect addition to your ocean-themed unit!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cupcake liners
paper
scissors
glue stick
tape
Fruit Loops
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. There should be 8 strips on each octopus.

Then, the kids will glue some Fruit Loops on the strips of paper to be the suckers for the tentacles.

Lastly, add googly eyes to the cupcake liner, and you have the cutest little octopus craft!

Craft #4: Paper Plate Sharks

Who’s kiddo loves sharks? Sharks are probably one of the most popular animals when it comes to ocean crafts for preschoolers.

All I can think about when I see this craft is the song Baby Shark.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

B. Set-up

Fold a paper plate and paint the front blue!

Draw two fins and a tail using cardstock paper.

C. Activity

Using a glue stick, put one fin on the front of the plate and one fin on the back to be the dorsal fin.

Paste the tail on the inside of the plate, so it’s sticking out of the side!

Add on googly eyes and draw on a smile! If you want to add teeth, use a Q-tip and dip it in white paint to make teeth by the mouth!

Craft #5: Ocean Oobleck

Oobleck is just an amazing sensory experience for kids! It’s both a solid and a liquid! It’s honestly one of the coolest fillers, and we love to use it!

Oobleck is the perfect filler for an ocean-themed sensory bin because it looks exactly like water, but it’s not!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cornstarch
water
ocean animals
sand
tray
bowl
spoon

View Amazon’s Price

B. Set- up

In a bowl, mix 2 cups of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, and blue food coloring; mix with a spoon!

Dump some sand into half your tray and dump the oobleck in the other half.

C. Activity

Add in some ocean-themed accessories! We love ours from Safari LTD. They are the perfect size for small-world sensory play set-ups like these.

Have the kids play, get a little messy and have fun! This is a great one to take outside.

I will tell you, though; oobleck is easy to clean up if you decide to do it indoors :).

RELATED: The BEST Sensory Bins for Kids

Craft #6: Paper Seahorses

These seahorses are so colorful! They make an adorable ocean craft for preschoolers.

Each one of them is different! I love using a variety of colorful supplies.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

colorful paper
glitter
buttons
poms
sequins
beads
shells
googly eyes
glue
scissors
free seahorse template

Click HERE for your FREE Seahorse Template

B. Set-up

Use my FREE seahorse template or create your own seahorse shape. If you are doing multiple seahorses, I suggest placing a few sheets of paper under each other so you can make several copies of the seahorse.

Then, grab your supplies for the kids to use!

C. Activity

Add a then layer of glue to the belly of each seahorse. The kids will decide what supplies they want to use for each seahorse.

We added another thin layer of glue onto the backs of the seahorse to add a little glitter too!

Lastly, add a googly eye and smile for each seahorse.

Craft #7: Fruit Loop Jellyfish Threading

We LOVE using Fruit Loops for activities. So adding this fun snack in is always a huge hit.

This ocean craft for preschoolers is great for fine motor skills.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

art tray
Fruit Loops
pipe cleaners
tape
paper

View Amazon’s Price

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 just grab them from a bowl and place them on the pipe cleaner.

RELATED: How to Teach your Toddler Colors

Craft #8: Colorful Narwhal Craft

How cute are these colorful narwhals? My kids are fascinated by narwhals, so I knew I had to come up with a fun craft for them to learn about narwhals.

This ocean craft for preschoolers is fun and different!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cardboard
acrylic paint
googly eyes
paintbrush
Fruit Loops
poms
sequins
buttons
glue

B. Set-up

Create a narwhal shape on cardboard. You can make it on your own or use a template to create the shape.

I grabbed my freebie narwhal from one of my favorite clip artists, Rainbow Sprinkles Studios on Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s; here’s the link.

FREE Narwhal Clipart

Check out Sasha’s amazing clipart while you are grabbing that freebie.

C. Activity

Paint the narwhals using acrylic paint. This paint will dry faster; that’s why I like to use it for projects like this with the kids.

Add a thin layer of glue to the belly of the narwhal and stick on your supplies. We also wanted to add on supplies to the tusk!

Lastly, add on googly eyes and make a smile. This is such a cute ocean craft!

Craft #9: Celery Printed Fish

Did you ever think that celery could make amazing art? Well, it totally can!

Celery makes the perfect prints for fish scales! We had some old celery sticks that I knew needed to be put to good use. This is such a fun ocean craft for preschoolers.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

paper
washable paint
celery
dot markers
googly eye
paint tray
markers

View Amazon’s Price

B. Set-up

Draw a fish shape using a marker on a piece of white paper. Then, add fins and a few facial features!

Dump the colors of the rainbow in a paint tray. We love the Crayola brand washable paint!

C. Activity

Place a celery stick in each of the colors.

Stamp the celery in order of the colors of the rainbow on the fish!

Your little one can use a marker to color in the fins at the top and bottom.

Lastly, we used dot markers to make bubbles for the fish.

Craft #10: Salt Painted Jellyfish

This jellyfish ocean 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 you can 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 #11: Jello Ocean Rescue

Jell-O digs are a fan favorite around here. I love them because they are taste safe for the kids it helps work on their fine motor skills.

This isn’t quite an ocean craft for kids, but I had to include it since it was ocean-themed and so much fun.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

sensory bin
Jell-O (2 packs)
ocean themed animals
kid-friendly tweezers

B. Set-up

Make the blue Jell-O by following the directions on the box. I recommend grabbing two packs to have enough Jell-O to cover the animals.

Put the Jell-O inside the sensory bin then, place the animals in the Jell-O before putting it in the fridge.

C. Activity

Once the Jell-O is ready, have the kids use tweezers to grab each animal out! Talk about what each animal is when attempting to grab it out.

Once they are all done, enjoy a little snack 🙂

RELATED: Fun Fine Motor Activities

Craft #12: Jellyfish Cutting Craft

I love when crafts can be educational. This ocean 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 #13: Ocean Bottle Cap Plate

Looking for ways to reuse bottle caps? This ocean craft for preschoolers is adorable and fun to recycle and create.

The aquarium paper plate is a more detailed paper plate for kids, so if your kids love crafting, this one is for them!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

paper plate
acrylic paint
sand
glue
shells
blue rocks
pipe cleaners
bottle caps
googly eyes
cardstock paper
hot glue

B. Set-up

Paint a paper plate blue and paint some bottle caps in different colors for the fish! Then, create the fins for the fish by cutting colored triangles from cardstock paper.

Once the caps are dry, add a googly eye. Then, attach the fin using hot glue.

C. Activity

Now it’s time to decorate the paper plate! You can use supplies like sand, rocks, shells, pipe cleaners, and fake coral.

These items can be glued on using regular glue other than the pipe cleaners. The pipe cleaners should be glued on using hot glue.

Lastly, hot glue the fish to the plate!

RELATED: Paper Plate Crafts for Kids

Craft #14: Sea Turtle Pasta Craft

Here’s a fun ocean craft for preschoolers using sensory supplies. I am a huge fan of using sensory fillers like pasta or rice for crafts.

The kids the process of coloring the sensory fillers and also how it feels!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cardboard
acrylic paint
shell pasta noodles
ziplock bag
parchment paper
art tray
googly eyes
glue
pencil

B. Set-up

Draw a turtle shape onto cardboard and paint it using acrylic paint.

While waiting for the turtle to dry, paint your pasta noodles! You can do this individually if you are only making one turtle.

If you are making a few, you may want to do this a little quicker. Add the shell pasta noodles to a plastic bag. Then, dump some acrylic paint in. Lastly, shake it up until it’s covering all the pasta and dump it out to dry.

We place a piece of parchment paper down on an art tray for the pasta to dry on for each clean-up.

C. Activity

It will take the pasta noodles about 20 minutes to dry. Once they are dry, add some glue to the bottom of the shells and start gluing them on the back of the turtles.

Cover the entire back of the turtle to make the shell!

This craft turns out so cool, and it’s a great sensory activity for kids.

Craft #15: Fish Threading Craft

Here is another fun threading ocean craft for preschoolers using Fruit Loops!

We love threading activities using Fruit Loops multiple times because the kids just can’t get enough of it.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

B. Set-up

Bend a pipe cleaner slightly to begin making the fish, but don’t close it because the kids need to add the Fruit Loops.

Have the kids sort out the Fruit Loops by color in bowls. We did this activity on an art tray; you can always do it on paper if you don’t have one.

C. Activity

The kids will use color matching skills to thread the Fruit Loops on the right colored pipe cleaner. Once they get enough on, you can close the pipe cleaner and turn it into a fish!

Place it on the art tray or a piece of paper and add a googly eye and a mouth to make a fish face!

Continue this for all the colors of Fruit Loops! This is a yummy and fun way to work on those fine motor skills!

RELATED: Letter F Activities and Crafts

Craft #16: Ocean Ice Rescue

We love rescuing toy activities! The kids get so excited to release their animals from being trapped!

This ocean craft for prescholers is so fun to do in the summer when it’s hot!

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

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B. Set-up

Place the ocean animals in a circle ice mold and place it in the freezer overnight! You can also add a few drops of blue food coloring to make it look like the ocean.

C. Activity

Fill up some squirt bottles with warm water. Then, place the ice in a sensory bin!

Have the kids use the squirt bottles full of warm water to release their ocean animal toys! Then, see how long it takes them to free each animal!

RELATED: Outdoor Activities for Kids

Craft #17: Bubble Foam Ocean

Here’s another fun ocean sensory activity for preschoolers! I love this one combines two different sensory fillers to really look like the ocean.

Making bubble foam is easy, and you probably have the ingredients in your kitchen now.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

tray
dish soap
blender
water
food coloring
sand
ocean animals

B. Set-up

Here is the recipe

2 tablespoons of dish soap
2/3 cup of warm water
5+ drops of food coloring (the more you add in, the bolder the colors will be)

Add these ingredients into a blender and press start!

C. Activity

Add your sand onto one side of the tray, then scoop out the bubble foam from the blender and add it in.

Then, add some ocean animals into the mix! You can also add small beach toys.

RELATED: Simple Bubble Foam Recipe

Craft #18: Crab Plate Craft

This crab plate is the perfect ocean craft for preschoolers! 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

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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 #19: Starfish Cardboard Craft

I love this fun starfish craft for kids. It’s colorful and turns out so cute.

It’s perfect for an ocean craft for preschoolers. I love all the different supplies you can use to make them look different.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

cardboard
acrylic paint
glitter glue
salt
glue
watercolors
buttons
poms
Fruit Loops
paintbrush
box cutter

B. Set-up

Make a star shape on cardboard using a pencil. Then, cut it out using a box cutter. Then, you can either paint the starfish or leave it blank. We did both versions.

C. Activity

Have the kids grab the supplies they want to decorate the starfish. We used all the supplies you see on the list. I even had the kids salt paint some of them (those are my favorites).

Check out how to salt paint in Craft #10.

Kids will glue on the supplies if they are choosing to use buttons, poms, or Fruit Loops. Lastly, add googly eyes and a smile to make the cutest little starfish craft.

Craft #20: Cupcake Print Crabs

Your kids will love this unique way to make crabs!

Use the back of a muffin tin. Yes! It’s simple and something different for the kids to try.

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!

Craft #21: Mermaid Sensory Bin

My daughter is really into mermaids right now, so I knew I just had to come up with a themed bin! This one is so fun for summer with the colored sand.

This is another activity we used with Crayola Play Sand! The colors are bold and fun for the kids to play and create with.

How to do this activity

A. Materials you need

View Amazon’s Price

B. Set-up

Dump blue, green, and purple sand into a sensory bin. Add in some glitter/sequins to be shiny (this was my daughter’s favorite part).

C. Activity

Add the mermaid’s in as well as shells and gems! The kids can mix the sand colors and explore mixing the water and the sand!

Have the kids scoop water using a measuring cup over to the sand section (if they would like).

This is the PERFECT colorful and fun summer sensory bin!

Craft #22: Paper Bowl Jellyfish

Out of all the ocean crafts for preschoolers that I have shared, these jellyfish 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 by 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!