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22 Hands-on Fun Ocean Sea Shell Activities For Teens

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I have 22 fun ocean sea shell activities for teens. Also, you’ll love more ideas on my pages Oceans, Homeschool Middle School and How to Homeschool High School.

There seems to always be a lot of fun ocean seashell crafts for the younger kids but not so much for older kids and especially teens.

I found a great list of crafts that are fun and more challenging.

From tinkling wind chimes to elegant artwork there are plenty of choices here to use for fun craft projects that will brighten up their room or have a special place on the mantle

22 Hands-on Fun Ocean Sea Shell Activities For Teens

Before we get into the more creative stuff, let’s answer a couple of important questions about these beautiful beach treasures.

You can ask your teen and have him research the answers on their own or read to them about shells while they work on a craft.

And yes, teens still liked to be read to.

What Is A Sea Shell?

A seashell is a mollusk’s abandoned exoskeleton.

It was their protection, home, and a place for their muscle to attach to. 

While ocean sea shells seem to come in an endless variety of shapes, they’re all really versions of the same fundamental pattern – a spiral.

How Are Seashells Made?

During their daily life mollusks draw in salts and chemicals from the water around them.

As they process the materials, they secrete the calcium carbonate, which hardens on the outside of their bodies and begins to form the hard outer shell.

 As they continue excreting the calcium carbonate the surface grows and grows.

What Kind Of Creatures Live In Seashells?

  1. Clams
  2. oysters
  3. scallops
  4. and sea snails to name some.
22 Hands-on Fun Ocean Sea Shell Activities For Teens

If you don’t already have seashells on hand from your beach trips, you can grab one of these mixed bags off Amazon to use.

Then, I thought this tutorial on How to drill a hole in a shell would come in handy for a lot of projects below.

More Summer Fun Ideas for Teens

Next, look at these other ideas for teens.

22 Hands-on Fun Ocean Sea Shell Activities For Teens

Finally, look at these 22 ocean sea shell activities for teens.

22 Ocean Sea Shell Activities

Nothing shouts in summer more than hitting the beach, learning about the ocean and doing some fun seashell activities.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I have a no sew dinosaur mat craft if your child is reading Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time. Be sure to grab more Geronimo Stilton Books ideas and crafts on my page.

Do you have an early to middle elementary kid who loves dinosaurs?

First, grab a copy of The Journey Through Time (Geronimo Stilton Special Edition) to go along with this fun and easy no sew dinosaur mat.

The Journey Through Time Travels into Prehistory, which is the large period of time before written records or human documentation.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

 In the first section, it is a trip right into the middle of the Prehistoric Period.

The book takes Geronimo through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods to learn more about the dinosaurs that once roamed the earth.

With great little factoids about different species of dinosaurs, bright illustrations, and an engaging story and a theory on how they disappeared, it is a great read for your child.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Use vocabulary words from the story, facts, and drawings to teach your child all about this time of prehistory.

 Add in a few more fun hands-on ideas and you have a wonderful unit.

How to Incorporate the No Sew Dinosaur Mat Into Your Homeschool Units

While the dinosaur mat may seem like just play, it can also be used to label different dinosaurs to work in some science as well as language arts.

Write the names of various species or even words like volcano, river, etc.. on small pieces of paper and have your child place them next to their match.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Work on easy math problems, just add dice and work on simple addition and subtraction.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Let toddlers and preschool children simply play while you read aloud from Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time.

 You will be pleasantly surprised how much they pick up through hearing new vocabulary words and passive listening.

More Dinosaur Learning Fun

Besides getting prehistoric history, this first volume in the series also covers Ancient Egypt and the Medieval Period.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

There are over 3 journeys in one book and they can be read as individual mini units or all at once.

Geronimo Stilton Book Activities

Next, look at these other crafts to go with the books.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Finally, you will need only two things to make a no sew dinosaur mat yourself-felt and a hot glue gun.

It makes a great roll-and-go activity while waiting at restaurants or doctors’ offices as well as at home on the kitchen table.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time No Sew Dino Mat

You are only limited by your own creativity here, whatever you can dream of you can turn into a felt masterpiece.

 However, I am going to give you a few tips for recreating a few things.

You will need:

Use a by-the-yard piece of green felt for the base if you want a larger mat.

However, if you want to stick with the basic felt size you can attach 2 pieces side by side to make it larger.

And to secure them together and hide the seam, cut a wavy strip of blue to create water and glue the two pieces to the underside.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Next, create grass and clumps of bushes by cutting green into ½” strips and cutting vertically not quite to the edge to make fringe. You can roll them up and hot glue the bottom to your base for bushes.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Or leave it long, and glue along the bottom edge, depending on what you want to replicate.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Cut white, tan, and gray felt into irregular circles for rock shapes and secure to the mat with hot glue.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Finally, to create the centerpiece, the volcano, draw and cut out a cone shape with a flat top on beige fabric.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Cut red, orange, and yellow stripes with an uneven edge for flames, and hot glue to the top of the volcano.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

Roll it, and secure down the edges with glue. Stuff with a little cotton filling or even just felt scraps.

Bend a small piece of the edge and secure it to the mat with glue, continue to fold and glue all the way around. Fan out the exploding lava.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

You can add other pieces like smaller ponds, quicksand, or whatever other features you would like on your mat.

Add small dinosaurs for play, counting, and more.

Geronimo Stilton The Journey Through Time Fun Easy No Sew Dinosaur Mat

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

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Today, I have a craft about folk hero Paul Bunyan if you’re learning about American frontier legends. Also, look at my Westward Ho Free Unit Study and lapbook.

What exactly are frontier legends?

They are the tales and ideas of people and places that exist at the edge of a civilization, particularly out west, during expansion.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Many famous names make the list but we are going to especially focus on the Tale of John Bunyan and his blue ox Babe of Wisconsin.

June 28th marks Paul Bunyan Day and no wonder, his legend goes way back to the 18th century and has been told in over 1,000 books.

American Frontier Legends – Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack of folk hero tales in America and Canada.

These stories involve his superhuman strength and work. 

Although Paul Bunyan wasn’t a real person, he was probably based on people and ideas of the time.

What started out as an oral retelling of a folk hero for working-class loggers became tales of a man of mythical proportions.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Look at some of the tall tales told about Paul Bunyan.

Tall Tales told about Paul Bunyan

  • He created the mighty Mississippi simply by dragging his ax behind him.
  • He and his trusty rusty bovine, Babe the Blue Ox, dug out the Great Lakes.
  • As a child, his parents needed 10 cows, 50 eggs, and 10 containers of potatoes every day to feed him.
  • Paul went out and found a baby ox trapped in the snow, he took him home and warmed him up by the fireplace, but his fur remained blue. Blue grew larger every day.
  • He had trouble removing trees from a winding road so he tied the road to Babe and had him pull it straight.
  • Some say Babe and Paul are responsible for creating Puget Sound in the western state of Washington.
  • Paul brought 7 more men who were each 6 ½” tall and 350 pounds to his work crew. They were known as the Seven Axe Men, each one was named Elmer so they all came running when he called.
American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Also, look at more frontier legends to learn about.

More American Frontier Legends to Learn About

  • Lewis and Clark- Best known for their expedition, Corps of Discovery, from the Mississippi River to the West Coast and then back. Sacagawea is the most well known member of their traveling party. Look at my Lewis and Clark Unit Study and Lapbook.
  • Davy Crockett- “King of The Wild Frontier” was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. It is believed he died fighting a battle at the Alamo.
  • Christopher “Kit” Carson-American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer. He fought a violent war against the Navajo that resulted in their removal from the Four Corners area to southeastern New Mexico.
  • Daniel Boone-American frontiersman and legendary hero who helped blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap. His family migrated to America to escape religious persecution. Look at my Daniel Boone North America Explorer Unit Study and Lapbook.
  • William “Buffalo” Bill Cody- Buffalo Bill was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He supported women’s rights and suffrage as well as civil liberties for Native Americans.
  • Also, look at my Pecos Bill copywork included in my Westward Ho Unit Study and Lapbook.
American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Next, add some of these books and movies to your leraning day.

7 American Frontier Legends Books & Resources

Choose a favorite American frontier legends movie and book.

Finally, look at how to make this adorable blue ox craft.

How to Make A Blue Ox Paper Plate Craft

You will need:

  • 2 paper plates
  • Large googly eyes
  • Blue, black, tan, and white craft paint
  • Craft glue or glue gun
American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

You can make this entire blue ox out of just two paper plates. Set one aside for the head.

Using the 2nd paper plate cut out two long horns along the ruffled edge, and ears. You can cut them half on smooth and half on ridges if you like for some extra texture.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Cut an oval muzzle and two ears from the smooth section.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Then, cut a long curve on either side of the other plate to give a bit of shape to your ox head like this.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Paint that plate with a coat of blue and set it aside to dry.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

While the first plate is drying, paint the muzzle and horns tan. Top the horns with a bit of black and finish off the muzzle with two long black nostrils. Allow it to dry.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Add a little forelock to your oxes head with paint, it really gives him a little fun personality.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Once everything has dried begin attaching all the pieces with glue, place the muzzle low, and add large googly eyes above it. Glue on ears and horns, let the glue dry.

American Frontier Legends and Hero Paul Bunyan Blue Ox Craft

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I have an easy mosaic art sea turtle activity. Add ideas from my fun From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook page to make it for multiple ages.

Activities for middle schoolers can be a little more challenging to find.

So, we did this mosaic sea turtle activity to let them show off their artistic side while they learn at the same time.

It uses only 3 items and is great for art but also helps continue developing fine motor skills, patience, planning, creativity, and problem-solving.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

 While putting together the mosaic your middle schooler can watch a video on sea turtles, listen to an audiobook, or listen to you read aloud.

While this is a more challenging activity, a patient elementary student could handle this as well.

Studying marine biology covers science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and is a wonderful option for middle or high school.

Even without a curriculum, your child can get a well-rounded education through interesting texts, videos, field trips, and hands-on learning like this sea turtle activity.

5 Fun Sea Turtle Facts

First, look at these sea turtle facts.

  • Jellyfish are the main food for the leatherback sea turtle.
  • The digestive systems of adult hawksbill sea turtles can neutralize the sharp, glass spicules and the toxic chemicals that are found in many of the sponges they eat.
  • Olive ridley turtles practice nesting in large groups, known as “arribada”, in fact, the mass group can include up to 300,00 individual females laying their eggs on the beach.
  • The Kemp’s ridley turtle is the most endangered sea turtle species, and the smallest.
  • Loggerhead turtles take up to 39 years to reach sexual maturity.

We used Ocean Anatomy as our reference for the design and found plenty of great sea turtle information like the life cycle, identifying different species, and what types of things endanger them.

The first thing you need to do before starting is decide on your design.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

 It can be simpler than mine if you like, you can just make one larger sea turtle with a rainbow of beads all the way around it or come up with an even more intricate design.

You can create adult or baby sea turtles for your design, a nest on the beach, swimming in the ocean, or a combination of both.

More Sea Turtle Activity Ideas

Also, look at some of these books about sea turtles.

10 Sea Turtle Resources

Add some books about sea turtles and hands-on resources to your lesson or unit study to bring it to life.

Finally, look how to make thise fun mosaic sea turtle activity.

How to Make a Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity

You will need:

  • Pony beads
  • Cheap round cake pan (Dollar Tree)
  • Permanent markers
Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Grab a small round cake pan.

I suggest using a Dollar Tree pan because you will not want to use it for food once the chemicals from the beads have contaminated it.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Place it where you will be working, you want to move it around as little as possible once you start working on it.

If your beads are not sorted, spread them out so they are easier to sort through, we put ours on a larger baking sheet.

The easiest way I found to lay out the design is to start in the middle with your turtle. Start with a diamond shape and a head and flippers.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Tweezers are very helpful to put beads into place, especially when you get into more detailed or crowded areas.

Ocean Mosaic Art

Continue working on your design, you can create a water and sand background.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Add white for waves and you can even make a baby sea turtle popping out of an egg on the beach. 

Fill the entire surface, you want your beads to not be able to move much at all.   

Until you fill it all in you will probably need to reposition your more detailed work a bit.                                                                                                                             

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Once your pan is filled in carefully move it into an oven preheated to 375℉.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Bake for 20-30 minutes until melted.

Here is the design after 10 minutes in the oven…

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

20 minutes…

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

30 minutes…

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, you will hear a little crackling and popping as it cools and releases from the pan.

Once cool it will flip right out of the pan.

Trust the process, even when you flip it over to the smooth side you are gonna think it doesn’t look like much, but we are going to fix that in this next step.

Flip to the smooth side and use a black Sharpie to trace the outline of your turtles, this gives them a little definition and really makes them pop.

If you want to hang it for display, you can hot glue a loop of ribbon to the back.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today we’re making a jellyfish lights crafts. Also, look at my page Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook.

Learn how to make this easy jellyfish lights craft with just a few inexpensive supplies and learn a lot about the life and characteristics of the fascinating jellyfish at the same time.

This is a great way to incorporate a hands-on activity that is fun and themed for summer learning into your day.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Your jellyfish can be as small or large as you like.

Upcycle empty fruit cups or use large plastic clear bowls from the party section to create an entire swarm.

Then use your child’s creation to teach them how to identify the anatomy, learn jellyfish vocabulary, and terminology, as well as create an adorable ocean craft for decoration.

Hands-On Activities-Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Ocean Anatomy was the perfect book for our easy jellyfish lights craft.

There is so much to learn in just a few pages.

You can reference it for the life cycle of a jellyfish, the anatomy of a jellyfish, facts, and a quick blurb on 5 different types of jellyfish.  

The watercolor illustrations and tidbits of information are wonderful for reference.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft
  • Make these fun Jellyfish in a Jar to observe their movement.
  • This stunning wooden Jellyfish Puzzle would make a wonderful hands-on activity as well as a keepsake for the whole family, especially middle to high school ages.

Jellyfish Facts

  • A group of jellyfish is known as a swarm or a bloom, which can contain millions of jellyfish and spread out over 10 square miles.
  • Jellyfish are not really fish or made of jelly, they are made of 95% water and classified as invertebrates from the phylum Cnidaria.
  • There are at least 2000 different species of jellyfish and they come in a wide range of shapes and colors like pink, white, yellow, orange, green, and blue, as well as multicolored.
  • They have no brain and no heart.
  • Jellyfish eat and poop from the same spot.
  • While some are tiny, the lion’s mane jellyfish can stretch its tentacles as long as 120 feet.

Challenge your child to create more than one jellyfish species.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Get creative using other craft supplies to make each one as unique as their real counterparts.

I was able to find everything I used at Dollar Tree, but you may already have most of it around the house.

More Ocean Themed Activities

And add Blow Painting Coral Reef Hands-On Activity.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Moreover, look at some of these books and fun resources to learn about jellyfish.

7 Books and Resources about Jellyfish

Add some of these books and resources to your study of jellyfish.

Finally, look how to make this fun jellyfish light craft.

Easy Jellyfish Light Craft

You will need:

  • Push light (or battery-operated tea light)
  • Clear plastic bowls or cups
  • Tissue paper
  • Ribbon
  • Hot glue gun/ stick
  • school glue

You want to make sure that your light fits inside of your bowl.

The tea lights fit everything, but they put out less light than the little tap light I used (from Dollar Tree).

First, place your bowl upside down and paint the outside with a full coat of watered-down school glue or use mod podge.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Cover with tissue paper in whatever color you like and press firmly into the glue. You can add multiple layers, but I like the translucent look.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

“Paint” another coat of glue all over the top of the tissue paper to seal it well. Press the paper until it is mostly smooth. Allow it to dry.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Once it is completely dry you can rip off or cut the excess tissue paper left on the edges.

Flip the bowl over and glue the light into place on the inside.

I used a generous amount of hot glue and only secured the back so that I could twist off the front to change out the batteries.

You could also secure your light with adhesive velcro strips for easy removal.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Cut 2 or more types of ribbon to the same length, ruffled or shimmer ribbon is fun with the lights and resembles the tentacles more.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

Hot glue the ribbon just inside the edge of the bowl all the way around.

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft

If you want to, add a little detail to the body with markers or watercolor paint.

Finally, to hang your jellyfish, make a little loop on top with some of your leftover ribbons and secure it with hot glue.

How fun and simple was this easy jellyfish lights craft?

Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft