Jellyfish Craft Tutorial

Preschool Jellyfish Craft

This preschool  Jellyfish craft is perfect for an Ocean Animals Under the Sea theme! I think most preschoolers love the ocean, and what's not to love with all the interesting sea life? Jellyfish are one of the most fascinating creatures you will find under the sea! 

Whether you’ve had a chance to see them at a local aquarium or just beautiful pictures of these swimming creatures, this jellyfish craft will surely have your preschoolers ready to dive into an ocean-theme.
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There are so many fun art projects to do with an ocean theme especially when it comes to process art. This craft lets preschoolers explore with new colors and create their own unique jellyfish. Follow along with the tutorial we've provided below for some under the sea fun.

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This fun activity is one of 200 hands on preschool activities featured in our Pre-K Play Ideas eBook! Purchase our eBook to have all of these activity pages at your fingertips.

Materials:

• Coffee filters: 2 for each student
• Markers 
• Pipettes 
• Water cups 
• Tray or a protective covered service i.e butcher paper covering the area
• Stapler for teachers 
• Tissue paper for stuffing 
• Glue or tape 
• Ribbon/crepe paper/wax paper for the tentacles

*Teacher tip: We suggest having everything prepped and ready to go prior to bringing students together for the craft. 

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Directions:

Before starting the craft, consider reading a fun book about ocean creatures to get your preschoolers excited about making jellyfish. We have a list of fun books for this theme on our Ocean Theme Planning Page.

Begin by setting up your craft table and have the materials prepped including having the tentacles and arms pre-cut. With the exception of the materials your preschoolers are cutting, it's a good idea to have everything pre-cut so you can help preschoolers along the way and engage in conversation instead of prepping materials while they are working. 

Now to the fun part! Let your preschoolers color the two coffee filters with any colors they choose. Some preschoolers may want to completely color their jellyfish, whereas others might only want to color a bit- either option will result in a beautiful jellyfish. Plus, they will likely want to make more than one so they can make a variety. 

Next, using the pipette, have your preschooler squirt a few drops of water onto the coffee filters. This is such a fun part as you begin to watch the colors spread into one another. Ask preschoolers what they notice is happening. Are new colors appearing? Talk to them about why changes occur when the markers get wet. Then, make sure coffee filters are separated and allow for drying time.

Once the coffee filters are dry, have preschoolers pick out the tentacles. Using tape or glue you will attach the tentacles and the arms to the center of one of the coffee filters.
In this example we used sheer ribbon, slim ribbon, crepe paper and rick rack to make it extra fancy. 

*Teacher tip: Cutting through different ribbons is a different experience than cutting through paper. Encourage your preschooler to cut their own ribbons, as an added bonus math lesson you can break out a ruler and see if they can measure them out to be the same. 

Assist preschoolers with adding in the stuffing between the two coffee filters. Then adults will staple the two coffee filters. Once the jellyfish is securely shut then add a ribbon to the top to hang and display the jellyfish.
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*Teacher Tip: When your preschooler is developmentally ready to attempt stapling talk about safety, then mark where to staple on the project. Supervise and offer support as they learn this skill. 

These are so fun to hang on ceilings of the classroom to create an under the sea look in your classroom or on the ceiling at home. 

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Save time planning your hands on preschool activities! Find detailed directions for this activity + 199 more in our Pre-K Play Ideas eBook! Print each activity page, or access them digitally!

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