turtles

11 Unique Turtle Gift Ideas for Reptile Enthusiasts

December 31, 2023 | Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If you need turtle gift ideas, be it a turtle, box turtle, tortoise, snapping turtle, or whatever species of shelled reptile they are a fan of we have an idea for them. Add ideas from my fun From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook page to turn this to a learning experience.

Turtles have become increasingly popular as pets but have also fascinated people for centuries as a topic of interest.

The majority are docile creatures that make their homes in a variety of places from woodlands to wetlands and deep in the ocean.

11 Unique Turtle Gift Ideas for Reptile Enthusiasts

I searched for fun and unique items for everyone from preschoolers to adults and aquatic turtle lovers to land lovers.

Turtles are represented on everything from T-shirts to jewelry in games and home decor items so there is a great variety of thoughtful items that you can gift.

Whatever occasion you’re shopping for my turtle gift ideas list is going to make every occasion special.

Celebrate the magic of turtles.

And bring joy to the heart of your slow and steady reptile-loving friend or family member with a gift that truly speaks to their unique passion.

Get ready to embark on a turtle-themed adventure of gift-giving joy.

First, look at these other gift ideas for homeschooling families.

Gift Guides for Families

Turtle Activities to Accompany Turtle Gift Ideas

Gifts for Turtle Lovers

Gifts For Turtle Lovers

If you have a turtle lover in your life, you'll love one or two of these fun ideas.

Sea Turtle Snow Globe Ocean Life Beach Themed

A pretty conversation piece for a desk or bookshelf this lovely snow globe portrays sea turtles in their natural habitat. It has wonderful reviews but be sure to note that it is smaller.

4 PCS Sea Turtle Ocean Marine Animal Growth Life Cycle

A young child who loves or is curious about turtles will enjoy this replica sea turtle life cycle that can be used in small world dramatic play, dioramas, sensory bins, or just as a reference as they study and learn all about them.

Creative Roots Paint Your Own Turtle, DIY Turtle,

For the creative kid who is a turtle lover at heart this little craft kit is a thoughtful and fun gift that is a joy while painting and can be long enjoyed afterward in the garden or even brightening up a dresser in their room.

Turtles of the World: A Guide to Every Family

This book contains information on every turtle family in the world, over 350 species. It has 250 + gorgeous photographs, maps, and plenty of commentary on all of them. It makes a nice reference or coffee table book for the turtle fan to keep on display and use.

Grow Your Own Tortoise Grass Seed Kit | Grows Year Round |

GROWS INSIDE TANK: You can plant the seeds directly into the tank's soil or pot and the seeds will grow using the tank’s UV light

Professor Noggin's Reptiles and Amphibians Trivia Card Game

Chances are good if the gift recipient loves turtles, they are crazy about all reptiles. Professor Noggin's games are fabulous for different age groups because there are three different levels of questions on each card. This particular theme covers everything from lizards to turtles to snakes so everyone in the family can play and learn together.

Turtle Pond

For children, I love to give a beautifully Illustrated storybook with special meaning. Turtle Pond follows a red-eared slider in a public pond and is a lovely way to encourage respect and affection for these gentle creatures (and encourage those reading skills too).

The Original Reversible Turtle Plushie - Green - Cute Sensory Fidget Stuffed Animals

Everyone loves this stuffy, and this reversible turtle option lets everyone know depending on which side is showing whether the turtle aficionado is feeling friendly or a little grumpy.

Turtle Necklace Sterling Silver Opal Sea Turtle Necklace

This sterling silver sea turtle necklace is vibrant and beautiful making it a lovely wearable gift that is also affordable for teens or adults.

Creature Cup - Turtle - 11 oz.

What a cute little mug, as your coffee disappears a sweet little turtle appears at the bottom. Pair it with a bag of coffee in a little basket for a gift that warms from the inside out.

Tetra Aquatic Turtle Deluxe Kit 20 Gallons, aquarium

If you want to get your child started with an entire setup for a small aquatic turtle, you could start here with this kit containing everything except a turtle. From the tank to food, water treatment, and
lighting this setup has it all.

Fun and Easy Mosaic Art Sea Turtle Activity For Kids

June 18, 2023 | 1 Comment
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.

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

If you can’t include a field trip to your own local aquarium to see the sea turtles check out Loggerhead MarineLife Centers Live Turtle Cam.
Here is a simple Sea Turtle Art Project by Easy Peasy Art School on youtube.
Hands-on Egg Carton Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activity
This step-by-step clay turtle is another fun project for older kids.
Cutest Ever Egg Carton Sea Turtle Craft and Learning Activities for Kids
Egg Carton Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activity
Travel Channel has a list of places where you can observe sea turtle nests in the U.S. if you happen to live near or are traveling near the beach.

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.

Sea Turtles

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.

I'll Follow the Moon

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.

Ocean Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of the World under the Sea

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.

National Geographic Readers: Sea Turtles

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!

Tammy Turtle: A Tale of Saving Sea Turtles

A book that tells how turtles survive with the help of protection programs.

Our Sea Turtles: A Practical Guide for the Atlantic and Gulf, from Canada to Mexico

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.

Sea Turtle Scientist (Scientists in the Field)

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.

4 PCS Sea Turtle Life Cycle

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.

Follow the Moon Home

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.

The Life Cycle of a Sea Turtle

Describes the life cycle of sea turtles discussing reproduction, birth, and adult 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Bake for 20-30 minutes until melted.

Here is the design after 10 minutes in the oven…

20 minutes…

30 minutes…

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 Kids Hands-on Egg Carton Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activity

May 2, 2023 | 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today I have a hands-on way to show a sea turtle life cycle activity. Add my fun From Egg to Sea Turtle Nature Unit Study & Lapbook to make it for multiple ages.

This sea turtle life cycle activity lets your child create a unique art project while also including some marine science in their lessons.

Gather up a few supplies including a book or two and sit down with your little ones to create the full life cycle and then use it as a tool to teach as well.

Fun Kids Hands-on Egg Carton Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activity

Ocean Anatomy gives a simple overview of different types of sea turtles as well as their life cycle, and some conservation information.

It is a great book to add to your library for all its wonderful content.

7 Facts about Sea Turtle Life Cycle Activity

Baby turtles use a small tooth called a caruncle to break out of the shell before heading to the water.
Once they are fully grown, they go back to where they were born to mate and start the cycle all over again.
The female sea turtle climbs ashore, digs a body pit and nest (or egg chamber), lays her eggs, and then covers the nest with sand.
It takes about six or seven weeks after being laid for the hatchlings to emerge and then head to the water.
Most species nest several times during a nesting season, every 2-4 years.
While it is not known exactly how long sea turtles live in the wild, scientists believe that their life span may be as long as a century.
There is not much known about their first few years. During the time they head to sea as newly hatched babies until they return to coastal shallow waters, up to 20 years. They are called the lost years because not much is known about this period in their life cycle.

Then add a few more resources to your marine life study.

Resources to Study the Sea Turtle Life Cycle