Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project – crafts to recognise World Oceans Day, celebrated on June 8. This year’s theme is ‘healthy oceans, healthy planet’.

The World Ocean Day organisation explains how the ocean is like the planet’s heart, connecting people all over the world just as a heart pumps blood to all parts of the body.

World Oceans Day has been a United Nations recognised event since 2009 and attracts more countries and organisations each year in a combined effort to preserve our oceans.

The celebration is a great opportunity to create fun crafts with the kids and open the door to conversations about the importance of our oceans.

I’m sharing five fun projects this week, including a free template.

WORLD OCEANS DAY CRAFTS – LET’S GET STARTED

SHIMMERING SEAHORSE

SUPPLIES

• Seahorse template – get it here
• Hole punch
• Scissors
• Ribbon scraps
• Sparkly sequins/shapes
• Glitter
• Googly eyes
• Glue

METHOD

• Print out your seahorse template and cut it out.
• Punch holes along the neck

• 

   

• Tie colourful ribbons through the holes. Add a longer one so you can hang it.
• Glue on the googly eyes, sparkly embellishments and glitter.

SEAHORSE COLLAGE

The bubble painting in this craft makes it extra fun.

SUPPLIES

• Seahorse template – get it here
• Cardboard
• Paper
• Bubble mix
• Blue food dye – liquid is best
• Green paint
• Glue
• Scissors
• Sparkly embellishments
• Googly eye

METHOD

• Mix a few drops of the food colouring with the bubble mix.
• Get your child to blow bubbles directly at the paper – this can get messy so a tablecloth is a good idea.

• Print and cut out the seahorse.
• Glue the seahorse to the paper and then glue on the sparkly embellishments and googly eye. NOTE: This is a good opportunity to explain to your little one about only using one eye for a profile picture, a concept young children have a hard time grasping. Show them your face – side on – and ask them how many eyes they see.
• Use a paintbrush or fingers with the paint to make green seaweed.

SEASHORE COLLAGE

SUPPLIES

• Thin cardboard
• Sand
• Shells
• Cellophane – green
• Glue
• Paint
• Scissors

METHOD

• Have your cardboard in landscape orientation (horizontal) and paint the top two-thirds with blue paint.
• Cover the lower third in glue.
• Sprinkle the sand over the glue, allowing some of it to go onto the painted section.
• Glue the shells onto the sand.
• Cut the cellophane into strips and twist into seaweed shapes.
• Glue the seaweed onto the picture.
• You can use stickers of sea creatures to decorate or paint some colourful fish.
• Try cutting a kitchen sponge into a castle shape and glueing onto the sand, then covering in more glue and sand to make a sandcastle.

CRAZY CRABS

SUPPLIES

• Paper
• Orange paint
• Googly eyes
• Tiny hands

METHOD

• Cover the tiny hands in the orange paint (it’s always good to have a wet washer at the ready when doing handprints).

• Place the left hand so the fingers are facing the left (short) edge of the paper, with the thumb pointed towards the top of the page.
• Place the right hand next to it so the fingers are facing the right-hand side of the paper.
• You can fill in the gap between the hands with more orange paint.
• Paint a couple of lines from each pointer finger to make the claws.
• Glue googly eyes just above the thumbprints.

CUTE CLAMS

SUPPLIES

• 2 clean and dry scallop shells
• A medium-sized pom pom
• Googly eyes
• Good craft glue

METHOD

• Glue the eyes onto the pom pom.
• Next, glue the pompom onto the inside of one shell.
• Glue the other shell to the top.

Did you see my smiling shark craft?

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.