Your kids will love this fun aquarium jar craft for summer activities for middle schoolers. Whether you’re diving into a study about the oceans or doing a shark unit study, hands-on activities are the way to go. Also, look at my page homeschool middle school for more fun tips.
Either use an upcycled jar or a mason jar from Dollar Tree. This easy aquarium craft for summer activities for middle schoolers is a multisensory approach to learning.
Not all middle schoolers are at the same level of maturity, so a hands-on approach is effective at getting information in.
In addition, no matter how easy of a project, it can help the information stay in little growing brains.
When we study a particular topic I like to include as many hands-on activities as possible and they range from super simple to more involved.
In addition, with shark week looming I started brainstorming fun and easy ways to learn about sharks and other ocean creatures in a unique way.
Besides, this is easy enough to make for a fun summer activity or to use for a homeschool summer co-op.
Craft For Summer Activities for Middle Schoolers
First, I gathered up some of our favorite books to fit the theme.
- Ocean Anatomy,
- Basher Ocean, and
- The Big Book of Blue for reference.
We really enjoy the illustrations and the way the information is provided in simple little nuggets.
Next, before introducing the mini aquarium jar craft learn a few facts about the ocean.
For example, start with the fact that the ocean is a vast and mostly unexplored part of our Earth.
And it is filled with many beautiful and at the same time frightening creatures.
Encourage your child to be a marine biologist if just for the day.
Learn about a couple of creatures, their habits, feeding, characteristics, and what part they play in the oceans ecosystem.
Ocean Craft for Tweens
Have your middle schooler go through your ocean themed books. And the pile of plastic ocean animals. Choose just two to learn about. Here are the easy stipulations.
First, the animal had to fit in the small plastic mason jar from the Dollar Tree.
Second, the animal has to be one that your child is interested in learning about . This way he can research and learn about the animal for the rest of the assignment.
Although you may school year round, you can use assignments like this in summer to keep writing to a a minimal while sneaking in some learning through summer crafts.
Next, look at this easy list of supplies.
- A smooth upcycled jar or plastic mason jar from Dollar Tree
- Gravel or sand
- Plastic ocean animals
- A Hot glue gun
- Distilled water
- Essential oil or hand sanitizer
How to Make a Simple Jar Aquarium Ocean Craft
Begin by using a smooth upcycled jar or mason jar from Dollar Tree.
Sometimes the empty name brand jars have a good amount of writing and raised designs.
However, jars like spaghetti and pickle jars are good choices. Once you soak the label off they are usually smooth.
I pick up a couple of these plastic mason jars from Dollar Tree every so often because they are great for not only storage but also crafts.
Start by putting hot glue on the bottom of a piece of coral or plastic aquarium plant.
Press into the bottom of the jar.
And if you don’t have one in your plastic animals you can easily make some with craft foam.
They will stand upright and hold up to being soaked in water.
Next, add a layer of gravel or sand, just a bit to cover the bottom.
Next hot glue some of the animals in place.
We didn’t want our animals floating upside down or all piled up on the bottom.
And the glue shows very little through the jar.
We chose a giant squid and whale shark
Add just a tiny bit of hot glue and press them into place.
Once glue is cooled and hardened slowly add distilled water to ⅛” from the top of the jar.
You can add a bit of blue food coloring if you like too.
But previously we found that it made it too cloudy to see well.
Additionally to keep the water from going bad you can add a couple drops of antibacterial essential oil . Hand sanitizer works as well.
Add a bit of hot glue to the threads on the lid, Then, screw into place to keep it from leaking.
Finally, you can add quite a bit to this activity by watching a documentary.
Watch a document while your child puts the jar aquarium together
Too, create the mini aquarium during read aloud time with an ocean themed book keeps wiggly learners interest.
A few more ideas to make this fun are to use chalk pastels. Sketch your chosen animals for a fresh art piece.
Chalk pastels are more intriguing than everyday crayons. Also, have your child create a large model of their animal with paper mache.
What ocean crafts do you like doing during summer with your middle schoolers?
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