Let’s learn how to make the cutest egg carton sea creature fish craft that presents a wonderful model of one of the ocean’s creatures. Also, look at my page Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook for more hands-on ideas.
This craft can easily be adapted by making it simpler for younger learners and challenging upper elementary through middle school students to put more detail into it.
The ocean is full of amazing creatures, and fish are some of the most diverse, colorful, and fascinating of them all.
With a few simple materials, you can turn learning about sea life into an engaging hands-on activity that will help your child learn the names of fish, their anatomy, and more.
We won’t stop there, with plenty of books, videos, and more to keep your child’s mind and hands engaged. The learning is just beginning.
Start with a fiction story (like The Rainbow Fish or The Pout-Pout Fish) to engage your child with characters and emotion.
Then look at a nonfiction one (like Fish for Kids or About Fish) to introduce real fish and habitats.
OCEAN BOOKS FOR KIDS
16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To
Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.
Join Danny Meadow Mouse, Jimmy Skunk, and Reddy Fox as they explore the seashore and take a closer look at the habits and habitats of the creatures they find. Discover the Seahorse, Shrimp, Crab, Anemone, Gull, and so many more.
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children is a wonderful way to introduce young ones to the fascinating world beneath us and is a perfect compliment to earlier books in this series, the Bird, Animal, and Flower books.
This edition is complete and unabridged with all of the beautiful illustrations by W.H. Southwick and George Sutton
Seaside Naturalist is an illustrated guide to marine plants and animals includes the characteristics of protozoa, arthropods, sponges, mollusks, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals.
The book opens by explaining how different types of animals are able to breathe and survive underwater, and the different families to which they belong. Subsequent pages are dedicated to specific creatures, including sea turtles, whales, sharks, stingrays, and seahorses, and show varied life in specific habitats, such as a coral reef or deep sea bed. The Big Book of the Blue also explores the underwater world thematically, looking at animals in danger, learning how to spot creatures at the beach, and discovering how to do our part to save sea life. Beautiful and filled with fascinating facts, young, curious readers won’t be able to tear their eyes away from the page.
Island of the Blue Dolphins begins with a young girl named Karana who is living on the Island of the Blue Dolphins (fancy name, right?) with her younger brother, Ramo, and sister, Ulape. One day, a group of Russian hunters (Aleutians) land on the island to hunt for otter. This is when the trouble really begins.
Once upon a time in France, a baby was born under the summer sun. His parents named him Jacques. As he grew, Jacques fell in love with the sea. He dreamed of breathing beneath the waves and swimming as gracefully as a fish. In fact, he longed to become a manfish. Jacques Cousteau grew up to become a champion of the seas and one of the best-known oceanographers in the world. In this lovely biography, now in paperback, poetic text and gorgeous paintings come together to create a portrait of Cousteau that is as magical as it is inspiring.
A beautiful edition with 110 images from the 1875 English edition. Use Amazon's Look inside feature to compare this edition with others. You'll be impressed by the differences. Don't be fooled by other versions that have no illustrations or contain very small print. Reading our edition will make you feel that you are traveling the seas with Captain Nemo himself.
More than 100 original illustrations by Louis Rhead. You want to read this book with illustrations.
An introduction by W. D. Howells.
Nicely formatted text in an easy-to-read font.
A beautiful cover from the 1891 edition.
Embark on a captivating tour of the waters that cover 70 percent of our planet! See our oceans come to life in mind-blowing detail. This is the ultimate children’s visual encyclopedia about the awe-inspiring blue planet!
How did a nineteenth-century dressmaker revolutionize science? Jeanne Power was creative: she wanted to learn about the creatures that swim beneath the ocean waves, so she built glass tanks and changed the way we study underwater life forever. Jeanne Power was groundbreaking: she solved mysteries of sea animals and published her findings at a time when few of women’s contributions to science were acknowledged. Jeanne Power was persistent: when records of her research were lost, she set to work repeating her studies. And when men tried to take credit for her achievements, she stood firm and insisted on the recognition due to her.
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.
Do you know a kid who’s captivated by what goes on beneath the ocean’s surface? This amazing entry into ocean books for kids is packed with hundreds of incredible facts for hours of underwater exploration. Pages of full-color pictures feature life in and around the sea including fish, dolphins, and shipwrecks!
Dive into the mesmerizing world of bioluminescence with "All About Bioluminescence." In this captivating book, readers embark on a journey through the depths of the ocean to discover the extraordinary glow-in-the-dark creatures that inhabit its mysterious realm. From the enchanting sea angel to the infamous anglerfish, each page is filled with stunning illustrations and fascinating facts about these luminous beings.With a focus on deep-sea dwellers, readers will uncover the secrets behind bioluminescence and learn how these creatures use light to communicate, camouflage, and lure prey. But the adventure doesn't stop there! "All About Bioluminescence" also includes hands-on activities like a glow stick experiment, allowing readers to experience the magic of bioluminescence firsthand.
One of the most enduringly popular adventure tales, Treasure Island began in 1881 as a serialized adventure entitled "The Sea-Cook"in the periodical Young Folks. Completed during a stay at Davos, Switzerland, where Stevenson had gone for his health, it was published in 1883 in the form we know today.Set in the eighteenth century, Treasure Island spins a heady tale of piracy, a mysterious treasure map, and a host of sinister characters charged with diabolical intentions. Seen through the eyes of Jim Hawkins, the cabin boy of the Hispaniola, the action-packed adventure tells of a perilous sea journey across the Spanish Main, a mutiny led by the infamous Long John Silver, and a lethal scramble for buried treasure on an exotic isle.
In Oceans and Seas! With 25 Science Projects for Kids readers ages 7 though 10 dive into the underwater world of some of the most amazing landscapes on Earth. On this amazing underwater adventure, kids experience the ocean’s tropical reefs and spot crabs, sea sponges, and thousands of kinds of fish darting in its crags and folds. They’ll meet a giant squid with eyes the size of dinner plates and an mbrella-like bioluminescent jellyfish.
From both a historical and scientific point of view, above and below the surface, this engaging guide brings the world’s oceans to life through fun facts, illustrations, and in-depth information. Interactive activities appear throughout, ranging from making solar stills and simple fishing spears to experimenting with a homemade diving bell and figuring out how much water it really takes to survive. With the oceans being the least explored environment on Earth, this reference illuminates some of the most incredible and surprising plants and animals as well as how to survive and navigate these vast expanses.
An intricate study of tide pool life is presented in text and pictures through the story of Pagoo, a her-mit crab.
Then continue your lesson by talking about what makes fish special. Ask questions to get your little ones thinking…..
- Where do fish live? Are there fish in fresh and saltwater?
- How do fish move through the water?
- Why do you think fish have gills instead of lungs?
- What would happen if a fish tried to live on land?
- Do all fish look the same? Why not?
- How do fish stay safe from bigger animals in the ocean?
Explain that fish live in water and breathe using gills. They have fins and tails that help them swim and scales that protect their bodies.
Some fish are big, like sharks or tuna, while others are tiny and colorful like clownfish or neon tetras.
FUN FISH FACTS FOR KIDS
Next, look at these fun fish crafts.
- Fish breathe through gills instead of lungs.
- There are over 30,000 types of fish!
- Some fish can glow in the dark in the deep ocean.
- A school of fish is a group that swims together.
- Some fish can change colors to blend in with their surroundings or to attract other fish.
- The clownfish lives in a sea anemone and helps keep it clean.
- Fish don’t have eyelids, they sleep with their eyes open because they live underwater and don’t need to blink.
Next, look at these fish crafts for kids.
FISH CRAFTS AND MORE FUN
Add in a few other hands-on and attention catching to make learning about ocean fish fun and exciting including crafts, games, fun videos, and art projects.
Show pictures or videos of ocean fish so your child can see the different shapes, sizes, and colors. This helps them learn to observe details while appreciating God’s wonderful underwater world.
- Watch All About Fish For Kids to learn more about the characteristics of fish.
- For science give my How do Fish Breathe Underwater Fun Activity a try.
- Foil Fish Craft
- Moving Fish
- Games make everything more fun and less like work, try Guess in 10: Underwater Animals
- Learn letters while you learn about ocean life with the Alphabet Fish Match Game.
Finally, look at how to make this fun egg carton fish.
HOW TO MAKE AN EGG CARTON SEA CREATURE FISH CRAFT
This was a neat way to learn about the structure and coloring of a unique and easily identifiable fish in the ocean, as we painted and put it together we talked about its features and of course looked at real photos to compare.
You will need:
- Cardboard egg carton
- Paint-acrylic or watercolor
- Paintbrushes
- Pipe cleaner
- Scissors
First, of course, you want to decide which amazing sea creature fish you are going to make.
We opted for this colorful Mahi Mahi.
Cut 3-4 cups, one of the taller points between the cups, and a generous piece of the flat top out of a cardboard egg carton.
Cut each cup out individually and trim the edges.
Poke a hole in the end of each cup and the taller piece.
Run a pipe cleaner through all pieces, knotting or hot gluing it inside each piece.
Paint the cups your base color, for our Mahi Mahi we used a lime green, set aside to dry, trim the smallest piece at the end into a tail shape.
Out of the flat piece cut a dorsal fin, pectoral fins, and anal fin shapes.
Paint them with your base colors, you can wait until it’s dry or dab the other colors on while wet to blend in more.
Set aside to dry while you add a layer of a darker lime green to the top half, and dabs of a bright blue to get its distinct coloration.
Add a black eye on either side.
Cut the fins down to fit each segment of the fish/egg carton cups.
Hot glue each one in place.
