If there’s one thing that comes to mind when we think of summertime, it’s the ocean!

Kids are naturally drawn to the ocean with all its mystery and the cool animal life it holds. Summer is a great time to teach preschoolers about some of the aquatic life that lives within our amazing oceans.

This clownfish preschool craft is a great way to teach kids about fish and do a fun activity at the same time.

Read on below to see how to make this simple craft with your children or students! Also, be sure to check out all of our ocean crafts for kids!

Simple Clownfish Craft For Kids

Because of the huge popularity of Finding Nemo and Finding Dory, most children these days are able to recognize clownfish. That means they’ll love making this craft even more!

Moms will love this activity because it’s simple and helps kids work on developmental skills.

If the children are able to use scissors on their own, this craft will help them fine tune their dexterity and strengthen their hand muscles.

Gluing all the pieces together will help the kids with fine motor practice and following directions.

Discussing the ecosystem clownfish live in is a great environmental science lesson for little children.

Any way you look at this craft, it’s educational and fun!

Supplies

• Colored cardstock or construction paper
• Googly eyes
• Black marker
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Circle punches (optional)
• Clownfish template (enter your email in the form at the end of the post to get the link)

Directions

Download the clownfish template and print out on yellow or orange card stock. Print the stripes on the white card stock. Cut out all the pieces.

Assemble the clownfish by gluing the stripes on first. The short fat strip goes by the tail, the largest strip goes in the middle, and the thinnest, curviest stripe goes by the mouth.

Glue the googly eye above the smile.

Glue the clownfish onto the blue card stock.

Using the lighter blue card stock, cut out a few wave shapes and glue them onto the paper.

Using the circle punches or scissors, cut out some bubbles from the white card stock and glue onto the paper. Use the black marker to draw reflective shapes onto the bubbles.

That’s it!

Craft Supply Substitutions

This fish craft is super simple so it’s great for preschoolers.

If you don’t have all the supplies necessary, there are a few different ways you can make substitutions.

First, you can skip the googly eye. If you don’t have any on hand, you can simply use white cardstock and a black marker. To make it easier, we use circle punches, but you can also cut the eyeball out by hand. Glue it in the same place shown in the pictures, then use the black marker to make the pupil.

If you’re short on cardstock, you can simply use one shade of blue for the ocean background and skip the waves. While the lighter blue waves give this craft a cool three-dimensional aspect to them, you can also just draw on waves with a black or blue marker.

Making This Craft In The Classroom Or At Daycare

If you’re going to be making this fish craft in a setting with lots of children, there are a few things to consider.

First, we’d suggest determining the skill level of the children.

• Will they be able to cut out the pieces themselves?
• Can they look at an example and recreate it at their desk?
• Are they able to draw wave shapes without a template?

Knowing the answers to the questions above will help you know how much you need to prepare this craft ahead of time.

If the kids aren’t able to cut out the clownfish pieces themselves, you’ll need more adult assistance during the craft or you’ll need to have all the pieces cut out ahead of time.

If students can’t yet look at the example and recreate it on their own, you will have to be sure you are able to show each child one at a time what order the stripes go on and how to glue everything together.

These are just a few things to think about before setting up this craft. Considering this ahead of time will give you the most enjoyable experience when you do this craft with the children!

Want some more ocean-themed educational activities? Try out this ocean activities bundle!

Fun Ocean Unit Ideas For Kids

The ocean is full of fascinating things, which makes it an exciting topic for kids to learn about!

There are many ways you can incorporate an ocean unit into your classroom. From sharing a story to crafting ocean-themed projects, read on to discover some of our favorite fun ocean unit ideas.

Ocean Animal Crafts For Kids

Crafting can help your child learn about various materials, textures, and colors, thus expanding their sensory experience and cognitive development. Plus, the process of making something with their own hands can boost their self-esteem and sense of achievement.

All in all, crafting with your kids can not only be a fun bonding experience but also a valuable learning opportunity.

Handprint Crab Craft – Get your little ones to make a crustacean creation! With this easy-to-make crab craft, kids can trace their hands and put them together to form a cool crab. And don’t forget the fun finishing touch – googly eyes! Your little crabs will love transforming their handprints into this snappy craft.

Jellyfish Paper Bag Puppet Craft – Make sure kids don’t miss the boat on this creative jellyfish craft! Our free printable template makes it simple for kids to make their own paper bag puppets. They can get creative with different colors and decorations, then use their puppet to put on an ocean-themed show!

Paper Plate Shark – Ready to sink your little ones’ teeth into a fun craft? This paper plate shark is sure to make a splash!

Kids can practice their painting and color-matching skills as they transform a paper plate into a ferocious (but friendly!) shark. It also makes a great decoration for any classroom or bedroom once complete!

Beluga Whale Headband – Let your kids get creative with this beluga whale headband! Your little ones can exercise their imagination with this easy-to-make craft.

They can leave the headband blank or color it in with their favorite crayons. When finished, they can slip on their headband and go on an imaginary underwater adventure!

Ocean Activities For Children

These jellyfish worksheets are a fun, no-prep activity that lets kids explore the world of jellyfish! Kids can practice their handwriting and letter recognition while learning about these fascinating creatures.

Plus, these worksheets are great for fine-motor development, meaning they’ll be swimming in new skills!

Fun meets education with our printable ocean animal worksheets. With matching games, letter tracing exercises, and line mazes – your kids can deep dive into their learning.

This complete set of worksheets has everything you need to make education a whale of a time!

You have to try our ocean play dough mat for a truly interactive way to learn! Kids will have so much fun creating ocean scenes with play dough.

Your little ones can hone their motor skills and use their imaginations to create something special! Our ocean play dough mat is a great tactile activity for taking on the go or doing at home.

Download these rainbow fish activity sheets and make learning a splash! Your kids will be hooked on learning with these fun, educational activities. They can color in each illustration and work on puzzles, making learning a fin-tastic experience!

Share With Us

Did you make this clownfish craft with your kids or students? We’d love to see how they turned out! Head on over to our Facebook page and post your pictures to our wall. We can’t wait to see how cute they look!

More Ideas For Kids

Clownfish Template