Kids can transform an everyday kitchen item into a work of art when they make this paper plate pufferfish craft. Kids will use a paper plate as their canvas to paint a colorful, spiky, and puffy fish that will be the perfect addition to their imaginative adventures under the sea.

This puffer fish art project is full of fun, and kids will love customizing it with their favorite colors and playful details. Once they’re finished, try these ocean crafts for kids to keep the fun flowing!

Vertical collage image showing a painted pufferfish kids' craft made from paper plates, with two finished fish in teal and orange, surrounded by craft supplies and labeled with the text “Painted Pufferfish Kids’ Craft.”

Use our free template to add just the right finishing touches and turn arts and craft time into an ocean full of smiles and imagination.

Pufferfish Art Idea For Kids

Have your kiddos customize their fishy friend by choosing the color of their creation. Will their pufferfish be bright orange, ocean blue, or bubblegum pink? Kids will be excited to see it take shape after a few strokes of the paintbrush and some snips of paper.

While kids paint, cut, and glue, they’ll have a fin-tastic time working on important fine motor skills and learning to follow step-by-step directions. The fun shapes and textures of the pufferfish make this a great project to keep little ones entertained and exploring.

Supplies

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Colored cardstock or construction paper
Scissors
Glue stick
Black marker
Markers
Pufferfish template (click the “click here to get your freebies” image at the end of the post)

Click here to see our favorite kids’ craft supplies.

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!

Hands holding a black and white printable frog craft template that includes large cartoon eyes, a mouth, and labeled body parts to cut out and trace on colored paper, against a white background with a purple patterned fabric.

First, guide your child to paint the paper plate with 1-2 thin coats of paint. Let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Hands painting a white paper plate with teal paint using a paintbrush, with a purple patterned fabric in the background.

Glue the belly to the bottom of the plate.

Hands holding a partially completed craft made from a paper plate painted teal, with a cream-colored semi-circle piece glued to the bottom center, against a white surface and purple patterned fabric background.

Click here to see why I recommend these craft supplies

Next, help your child glue the mouth on the top part of the belly.

Hands attaching a large blue and black circular eye to a teal-painted paper plate with a cream-colored bottom section, as part of a craft project on a white surface with a purple patterned fabric background.

Place the eyes on both sides of the nose and glue in place.

Hands placing two large white and black cartoon eyes onto a teal-painted paper plate with a cream-colored bottom and a blue beak, as part of a bird craft on a white surface with a purple patterned background.

Draw the eyebrows above the eyes.

A person uses a black marker to draw eyebrows above two large cartoon eyes on a teal and cream-colored paper plate bird craft with a blue beak, placed on a white surface with a purple patterned cloth in the background.

Now, draw the spines around the face and body of the pufferfish.

A person adds blue feather-like markings with a marker to the forehead of a teal and cream paper plate bird craft that has large cartoon eyes and a blue beak, lying on a white surface with a purple patterned fabric in the background.

A person draws orange feather-like markings on the lower cream portion of a teal and cream paper plate bird craft that features large cartoon eyes, a blue beak, and blue feather marks on its upper section, with a purple patterned fabric in the background.

Finally, encourage your child to glue the fins, one on each side of the body.

A person attaches blue paper wings to the sides of a bird craft made from a painted paper plate, which features large eyes, a blue beak, drawn-on feather patterns, and a two-tone design with teal on top and cream on the bottom.

Be sure to check out our paper plate crafts while you’re here! Your kids will love creating more fun DIYs like this one!

A completed bird craft made from a painted paper plate features a teal top half and cream bottom half, large round eyes, a blue oval beak, hand-drawn feather patterns, and attached blue wings on each side.

Fun Paper Plate Crab Craft

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!

Two colorful pufferfish crafts made from painted paper plates—one blue with teal fins and one orange with yellow fins—lie on a wooden surface surrounded by craft supplies like glue sticks, scissors, paint bottles, markers, and colored paper.

Paper Ocean Crafts For Kids

Shark Name Craft – Let kids sink their teeth into learning with this personalized shark! This jaw-some activity brings the ocean’s coolest predator to life while helping kids spell their names and boost letter recognition.

Just grab our customizable template and follow the easy steps to create a chomping good shark masterpiece!

Jellyfish Sun Catcher Craft – Catch the sun and the beautiful colors it casts with this fun jellyfish sun catcher. Kids can make a jellyfish to brighten up any window using some tissue paper and contact paper. It’s a cheerful project that brings the ocean indoors with a sunny sparkle!

Collage of four colorful ocean-themed kids' crafts: name art with fish cutouts, tissue paper jellyfish with smiling faces, red handprint crabs with googly eyes, and clownfish cutouts in orange and yellow swimming against a blue ocean background.

Crab Handprint Craft – A pinch of creativity and your kids’ handprints will make the cutest crab around. Their handprints become the crab’s legs and claws, so it’s a cute keepsake to make this summer. It’s a claw-some way for kids of all ages to get creative and show off their crabby creations!

Clownfish Craft – Preschoolers will love to create their own Nemo inspired fish when they’re learning about sea life! It’s a fin-tastic project to build scissor skills, boost fine motor practice, and dive into ocean themed learning through some hands-on fun!

Ocean Theme Printables

After reading this favorite book, keep the tide of fun rolling with these engaging Don’t Worry, Little Crab activities! Kids will love reconnecting with their favorite sea creatures through these hands-on worksheets that spark curiosity and support learning.

Try this Paper Plate Fish Craft

These activities encourage little ones to practice patterns, explore letters, label ocean friends, and strengthen pencil control along with the friendly faces from the story! Turn storytime into a splash of early education.

A handmade orange pufferfish craft made from a painted paper plate features large cartoon eyes, a yellow snout, and yellow fins with black lines, surrounded by craft supplies including markers, scissors, paint bottles, and colorful paper.

Kids can dive into coloring fun with these adorable fish color by numbers pages! This set includes six underwater scenes with numbers 1 through 4. Little artists will love matching numbers to colors as they bring each fishy friend to life.

These pages are a good mix of fun and learning when they build number recognition, color matching, and fine motor skills while adding their artistic touch to each illustration. Just print, pass them out, and let the coloring waves roll in.

Collage of four ocean-themed preschool worksheets including a "Finish the Pattern" activity with sea creatures, two "Color by Number" pages featuring a pink fish and a yellow fish, and a "Cutting Practice" sheet for counting and matching ocean animals to numbers.

These ocean cutting practice pages are a fun filled way to help kids master their scissor skills while exploring the deep blue sea. Each page invites little hands to cut along the dashed lines and meet friendly sea creatures.

Kids will sharpen their hand-eye coordination, boost focus, and build fine motor strength with activities like number matching and ocean puzzles all while enjoying a wave of fun with different ocean creatures.

A bird craft made from a paper plate painted orange with a cream bottom features large round eyes, a yellow oval beak, hand-drawn feather markings, and attached yellow wings on each side.

This ocean letter tracing game will be a hit with kids! They can trace their way through the alphabet alongside cheerful dolphins and graceful sea turtles.

Each swoop and swirl of their letters will help them build writing confidence and strengthen their motor skills while also exploring a colorful underwater world. This interactive game turns letter practice into something fun to keep little learners happily engaged as they grow their early literacy skills.

Octopus Paper Bag Puppet Craft

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!

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