I have a fun egg carton sea turtle craft. Add my fun From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook to make it for multiple ages.
I love taking trash and turning it into a treasure.
And this was a really fun way to do it.
Create the cutest little sea turtles to put together a lesson that would be perfect for preschool or kindergarten.
Pair it with a book and a couple of fun activities and you have a wonderful lesson without a textbook or worksheet in sight.
Grab a copy of Ocean Anatomy to dive into learning a little about sea turtles with your little one while you work together on this sweet egg carton sea turtle craft.
This book in a series by Julia Rothman covers a lot of ocean topics including sea turtles, seaweed, the food chain, ocean currents, and many of the other animals that make their home there.
5 Fun Facts about Sea Turtles
- There are 7 different species of marine turtles – Flatback, Green, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Leatherback, Olive ridley, and Kemp’s ridley.
- The record for the largest marine turtle recorded goes to a leatherback that was found ashore measuring 8.2 feet long and 8.2 feet from flipper to flipper and weighing almost 2000 pounds.
- Unlike other kinds of turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their flippers and head into their shells.
- Nest temperatures determine the sex of sea turtle hatchlings. Warmer temperatures will produce more females while cooler will produce more males.
- Sea Turtles can live to be about 100 years old.
Next, add some books and resources.
Sea Turtle Books For Fun Egg Carton Sea Turtles
Like I mentioned Ocean Anatomy is a must-have book for studying the wonderous ocean, look at the beautiful illustrations.
While it is not super in-depth it covers so much of the ocean in general and gives a great page on sea turtle Identification, some facts, and labeling of the parts of a sea turtle.
Fun Sea Turtle Resources
Add some books about sea turtles and hands-on resources to your lesson or unit study to bring it to life.
Sea turtles are fascinating. Hatched from eggs smaller than a baseball, some can grow to weigh over a thousand pounds. Once adults, they can live to be around 100 years old. And when it's time to nest, they migrate more than 1,000 miles. With colorful, clear illustrations and straightforward text, Gail Gibbons introduces the eight kinds of sea turtles living in the ocean today. Learn the similarities and differences with labeled diagrams and experience the hatching of the tiny turtle babies with detailed illustrations. This updated edition now includes the most up-to-date information about these beloved reptiles, as reviewed by an expert vetter in the field of herpetology.
Celebrating the love between mother and child comes an achingly beautiful story that has captured hearts around the world. Written by a new mom, by accident, when she sang a little song to her fussing newborn, I'll Follow the Moon proudly donates proceeds to charity: every book saves a turtle.
Follow Rothman’s inquisitive mind and perceptive eye along shorelines, across the open ocean, and below the waves for an artistic exploration of the watery universe. Through her drawings, discover how the world’s oceans formed, why the sea is salty, and the forces behind oceanic phenomena such as rogue waves. Colorful anatomical profiles of sea creatures from crustacean to cetacean, surveys of seafaring vessels and lighthouses, and the impact of plastic and warming water temperatures are just part of this compendium of curiosities that will entertain and educate readers of all ages.
Who could resist celebrating sea turtles? They may seem like lazy ocean reptiles drifting with the oceans’ currents, but they are actually long-distance swimmers that spend their entire lives searching for food and a mate. What’s more, they come with their own built-in GPS, returning to the exact beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. Kids will learn all about these tranquil and mysterious animals through brilliant photography and illustrations, plus the trusted and distinctive content you love from NG Kids!
A book that tells how turtles survive with the help of protection programs.
The book's pithy, well-organized sections are lavishly illustrated. It is a guide for anyone who is the least bit curious about these fascinating marine animals. Bite-sized installments harmonize with multiple images on each page to make this book a unique and entertaining resource. The story it tells covers understanding, experiencing, and saving our sea turtles, with descriptions of how these endangered animals contribute to our happiness and why they deserve a helping hand.
The mother turtle has a vital job to do: dig a nest in which she will lay eggs that will hatch into part of the next generation of leatherbacks. With only one in a thousand of the eggs for this critically endangered species resulting in an adult sea turtle, the odds are stacked against her and her offspring.
Children can see how animals change and grow. Realistic detail showing a different stage in the development of animals.
Uniquely molded textures and richly painted details bring them to life and help inspire creativity for kids.
It is a great way to expand the growth with children through physical science.
A triumphant story of environmental activism, community, and friendship: Acclaimed activist Philippe Cousteau and renowned author Deborah Hopkinson team up to offer a story of the powerful difference young people can make in the world. Meet Viv, who has a new home and a new school by the sea and follow her as she finds her way in a new place and helps bring together a whole community to save the sea turtles of the South Carolina coast.
Describes the life cycle of sea turtles discussing reproduction, birth, and adult life.
Next, add some fun hands-on sea turtle activities.
Sea Turtle Hands-On Activity Ideas
- Grab a life cycle set to help your child get a grasp on the various stages of life sea turtles go through. They can be added to a science table or sensory bin or used with a life cycle worksheet.
- Paint a picture of sea turtles with watercolors, acrylics. Use chalk pastels or some medium you have never tried before using a book or photo from Google for inspiration.
- Use a mixed collection of land and water turtles to compare their differences and encourage your child to sort and make a pile of each. What is the difference between their feet (or flippers?) What about the difference between sea turtles and aquatic turtles that live in freshwater?
- Include the whole family with my free From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study and Lapbook.
- Visit a local aquarium if you live near one and spend some time at the sea turtle tank observing their behavior, learning what type they are, and learning about these beautiful creatures.
- Use play dough to help your child recreate the Sea Turtles Life Cycle Craft.
- You could also add plastic sea turtles into this Fun Making Ocean Layers Soap activity to cover even more ocean topics.
- Finally, replace the shark in this Fun Aquarium Jar Craft with a plastic sea turtle to match with the theme.
Next, make this fun hands on sea turtle craft.
How to Make an Egg Carton Sea Turtle
You will need:
- Cardboard egg carton
- Green pom poms
- Google eyes
- Green construction paper or craft foam
- School glue
- Green paint
- Paintbrush
Directions:
Cut out individual cups from a cardboard egg carton and cut one for each turtle you want to make.
Paint the entire cup green and set aside to dry.
Glue googly eyes to a green pom pom and then attach it to the body with glue as well.
Cut 4 flippers from green construction paper or craft foam.
It is basically just a long crescent shape.
I recommend you draw 1 and let your child cut all 4 out at once by folding the paper into quarters before trimming.
Attach flippers to the underside of the egg cup with glue and allow to dry.
Add a little sand and you have all the makings for a lesson on how baby sea turtles find their way from the nest to the sea.
