The ocean’s full of fascinating creatures, and kids love exploring them! This fork painted puffer fish craft lets little artists create spiky, colorful fish with a fun painting twist. With the help of a fork, kids can mimic the spiky texture of this balloon-looking fish and give him a colorful look all his own!
This creative twist on painting makes the process extra fun while sneaking in some extra learning. Be sure to swim through our collection of ocean crafts for kids to keep the underwater adventures going!
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Pufferfish Art Activity
This hands-on activity is a good way for kids to build skills while expressing themselves through art.
They’ll be thrilled to see how their puffer fish takes shape when they trade a paint brush for a fork and even more excited to show it off.
Download our free puffer fish template to help guide kids as they create their masterpieces. Then grab some paint and a fork and dive into this adorable project that’s sure to bring smiles all around.
Supplies
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Fork
- Paint
- Markers
- Pufferfish Template (click the “click here to get your freebies” image at the end of the post)
Directions
Start by downloading and printing the template. Once the template is printed, gather the materials for this fun activity. Get those scissors ready, and let’s help the kids bring this pufferfish to life!
Squeeze a bit of orange paint onto a paper plate. Then, have the kids dip the edge of a plastic fork into the paint and start stamping it onto the round pufferfish template. They can press the fork to create those fun spiky textures.
Once the paint has dried a bit, it’s time to glue on the light-colored belly. Just line it up toward the bottom of the pufferfish and press it down.
Next, it’s time to give your pufferfish some personality! Grab the large eyes and glue them onto the upper left area of the fish’s face.
Hand over the pre-cut mouth piece and help your child glue it right below the eyes, near the top of the belly.
Now that the face is all set, it’s time to give our pufferfish some fins. Take the left fin and help your child glue it to the left side of the fish, just next to the belly.
Now let’s balance things out by adding the right side fin. Have your child glue the right fin on the opposite side of the fish, just across from the first one.
Now it’s time to complete your pufferfish’s body by adding the tail fin. Help your child glue it to the back end of the fish, pointing slightly outward.
For a little extra fun—grab a blue marker and let your kid draw simple wavy lines around the fish to make it look like it’s swimming underwater.
To complete the craft, use a black marker to draw two eyebrows above the eyes. That’s it—your pufferfish is all done.
Don’t you just love how this fork-painted pufferfish turned out? It’s bright, fun, and an easy project kids will enjoy making. While you’re here, be sure to check out some of our other favorite summer crafts for kids to keep the creativity going all season long.
Ocean Books For Kids
The Snail and the Whale– Julia Donaldson, author of the famous book The Gruffalo, brings kids another fun book about an unlikely set of friends. Snail and Whale have lots of fun together in this colorful book!
Shark Lady– This children’s book is based upon the true story of Eugenie Clark, aka, The Shark Lady. Learn about her love of sharks, her discoveries, and the inspiring message of going after what you want in life.
The Rainbow Fish -This is a classic children’s book with a wonderful message for children. In it, a fish learns to share his favorite possession, his glittery scales, with his friends!
Ocean Child Crafts
Shark Name Craft – Chomp into learning fun with this personalized shark! Kids will love creating the ocean’s fiercest fish that also helps them spell their names. Our editable template and simple steps will help them swim into creativity and spelling practice in no time.
Torn Paper Crab Craft – Kids will have a blast tearing colorful paper and turning it into a masterpiece of a cheerful crab. Just download our free template, grab some paper scraps and glue, and let the crafty crustacean fun scuttle in!
Octopus Toilet Paper Roll Craft
Seahorse Craft For Kids – Make a splash with this watercolor seahorse scene! Kids will love painting in watercolor and adding colorful paper to bring their ocean world to life. This crafty combo of painting and gluing will have your little artists excited to dive in and get creative.
Jellyfish Tissue Paper Craft – Float into fun with this jellyfish made with tissue paper! Kids will love scrunching, gluing, and layering tissue to make their own colorful sea creature. It’s a good way to build fine motor skills while exploring shapes, colors, and textures. Grab some tissue paper and our free template!
Ocean Activities For Preschool
Introduce your little marine explorers to the wonders of the deep blue sea with our ocean animals tracing worksheets!
These engaging printables make learning fun as kids trace adorable sea creatures to sharpening their fine motor skills. With each line connected, they’ll boost hand-eye coordination, improve pencil grip, and build handwriting confidence.
They’ll also grow their vocabulary and learn to name amazing ocean animals from crabs to turtles. After tracing, they can dive into coloring and proudly display their underwater masterpieces!
Our ocean cutting practice pages will make a big splash with your kiddos. Scissors meet sea creatures in a wave of fun when kids snip along wavy paths to reach an octopus, match numbers with adorable marine animals, and piece together ocean animal puzzles.
These playful printables make cutting practice an activity that kids look forward to and boost fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and scissor control.
The zigzags, curves, and counting fun will keep your little learners engaged while sharpening essential skills.
Easy Jellyfish Painting For Kids
Dive into an ocean of fun with these colorful and engaging ocean animal printable preschool worksheets!
They’re filled with playful sea creatures and summertime vibes to help kids build fine motor skills, practice handwriting, and master letter recognition all while having a blast.
These ocean-themed pages bring learning to life whether your kiddos are learning at home or at school. There’s something exciting on every page including alphabet tracing, dolphin labeling, letter mazes, and a fun shark matching game.
Make waves with learning using these ocean alphabet letters tracing pages! Each letter is paired with sea creatures and plants to turn writing practice into an underwater game.
Kids will love tracing their way through the alphabet while building hand-eye coordination and motor skills.
These engaging printables with so many ocean friends to meet, make it easy for preschoolers and kindergartners to get excited to dive into letter recognition and handwriting practice.
Share With Us
Did you make this activity with your kids or students? We’d love to feature them on our social media!
For a chance to have your child’s project featured, simply snap a picture of the completed project and post it to our Facebook page, email it to us directly by clicking here, or use #simpleeverydaymom on your social media!
Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft
Materials
- Colored cardstock or construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Fork
- Paint
- Markers
- Pufferfish Template
Instructions
- Download the template, print it, and cut out the pieces you need.
- Start by using a plastic fork to stamp textured strokes across the round fish body.
- Once dry, attach the belly piece toward the lower center of the fish.
- Position the eyes slightly to the upper left and glue them down.
- Glue the mouth just below the eyes, near the top edge of the belly.
- Place the left side fin on the left side and glue it down.
- Follow with the right fin on the right to balance the shape.
- Glue the tail fin to the back end of the fish body.
- Use a marker to draw simple wave patterns around the fish.
- Finish by drawing two eyebrows above the eyes.
Free Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft Template
Sam is the crafter and founder of Simple Everyday Mom. She has been featured in Oprah Mag, Good Housekeeping, The Spruce Crafts, Country Living, The Bump and more. Read more.
Janice
Thursday 10th of July 2025
This is such a fun way to have kids make art!
Kara
Friday 27th of June 2025
This website is misleading free but you never see the link and keep seeing ads then you need to enter email and still didn’t receive a link
Sam
Friday 27th of June 2025
I’m really sorry for the confusion. It looks like the email with the link was sent, but the link wasn’t clicked. That’s what takes you to the actual download page.
zuleika
Wednesday 21st of May 2025
Free template please
Kamille - Community Support Assistant
Friday 23rd of May 2025
Of course! All you need to do is click the “Click Here To Get Your Freebie” image at the end of the post and then enter your email in the form and the link will be sent to you. Or if you’re already a subscriber, when you enter your email in the form, it’ll automatically redirect you to the download page ◡̈
Melina
Tuesday 20th of May 2025
Puffer Fish is so cute
Kamille - Community Support Assistant
Wednesday 21st of May 2025
Puffer fish just have that charm!