Are you starting an ocean unit? These ocean crafts for elementary students will be the perfect addition!
Why Crafts in the Elementary Classroom?
Crafts still have a place in the elementary classroom! Let me tell you why, crafts are a great way for students to practice fine motor skills like cutting, tearing, gripping, gluing, etc. They are also a great way for students to practice working independently. Working independently is not a skill that comes natural to our students, instead it needs practice. A great way to practice this is through low pressure activities like crafts. Finally, crafts are a great way to make standards fun! Crafts can be paired with just about any activity: retelling crafts, writing crafts, math crafts, science crafts, etc. They are a great way to get in standards while having fun.
Okay, now that you are convinced..
Now that I have you convinced, let me show you how you can easily elevate any ocean unit or maybe summer school with these fun ocean crafts for elementary students!
Sea Turtle Ocean Craft for Elementary Students
This beloved sea turtle is a favorite in my summer school class. Each summer for summer school, I do an ocean theme. Meaning everything we do is ocean themed. I am lucky to work at a school that allows us to have fun during summer school rather than following the more traditional school year. This means we get to stray from our curriculum and do mostly project based learning and a lot of STEAM! This is where these ocean crafts were born. Each day of summer school, we study a different ocean animal and we wrap up the day with a craft aligned with our animal of the day. This sea turtle is a fan favorite every year. I give students different colored paper all shades of blue, green, brown, turtle colors. I show them how they can manipulate the paper by ripping it apart to “color” their turtle. It is INSTANT engagement when you let them rip up paper, let me tell you.
Fish Ocean Craft for Elementary Students
Another summer school favorite is this fish craft. Now, with this fish craft (and really any craft) there are a million different ways you can do this. Included in the craft kit, is a quick print version of the fish where all of the pieces are paper. But, you could also use pipe cleaner, string/yarn, fabric, popsicle sticks, etc to create the fish body. I’ve also used paper plates to create the fish head and tail instead of paper. It really depends on my class that year. If they are capable of handling special supplies I try to do them just because for me it makes it more fun and I love seeing their creativity with the items. If I have a class who needs just paper, we do it that way too. The flexibility in these activities is part of why I love doing craftivities in the classroom!
I hope these gave you some ideas for how you can include ocean crafts into your ocean unit, summer school or summer camp but also gave you ideas for crafting in the classroom! See more about classroom crafts in this blog post. You can check out the complete bundle of our craft kits here or if you are just looking for these ocean crafts they can be found here.
