Blog / Ocean Paper Plate Crafts

Ocean Paper Plate Crafts

October 25, 2026

Ocean Paper Plate Crafts
Blue paper plates with paper fish, a crab, and waves

Ocean paper plate crafts turn a circle into water. Blue crayon or washable paint is the sea, and paper shapes are the animals. The plate aquarium in the main guide is one fish picture. These projects add a crab, a whale, a jellyfish, and a wave that stands.

Set up the table

Colour or paint the plate first and let the wet paint dry before glue. If you cannot wait, use crayon so the next step can happen immediately. Keep paper fish in a bowl so they do not stick to wet paint.

Crab

Ages: 5+. Time: 25 minutes.

You need: paper plate, red crayon, two paper claws, eight short strips.

  1. Colour the plate.
  2. Glue the claws on the sides.
  3. Add four strips on each side as legs.
  4. Draw two eyes on stalks, or glue two small circles on strips.

Eight legs are a lot. Four legs still read as a crab if patience runs out.

Whale

Ages: 4+. Time: 20 minutes.

You need: paper plate, a paper tail, blue crayon, a black dot for the eye.

  1. Colour the plate.
  2. Glue the tail on one edge.
  3. Add one eye.
  4. Draw a spout with two curved lines.

The tail is the piece that makes it a whale instead of a blue circle.

Jellyfish

Ages: 4+. Time: 20 minutes.

You need: half a paper plate, yarn or paper strips, glue.

  1. Colour the half plate.
  2. Glue strips along the flat edge so they hang.
  3. Draw a simple face on the plate.
  4. Hang it or lay it flat.

Four tentacles are enough. A handful of yarn tangles.

Wave picture

Ages: 5+. Time: 25 minutes.

You need: paper plate, blue and white paper strips, one paper boat.

  1. Glue wavy strips across the plate.
  2. Tuck a boat on the top strip.
  3. Add one fish under a wave.
  4. Leave some plate showing as sky.

Strips that curve a little look more like water than straight bars.

Starfish

Ages: 4+. Time: 15 minutes.

You need: paper plate, scissors for an adult, crayon.

  1. An adult cuts five wide triangles off the rim, or the child glues five triangles onto a smaller circle.
  2. Colour the star.
  3. Add dots.
  4. Done.

A fat star holds together. Skinny points tear.

Tide pool

Ages: 6+. Time: 30 minutes.

You need: paper plate, shell-shaped scraps or real small shells, green paper, glue.

  1. Colour a blue ring and leave the centre sandy coloured.
  2. Glue green strips as seaweed.
  3. Add two or three shells or paper shells.
  4. Draw one crab.

Real shells need a strong glue stick or a dot of liquid glue, then drying time.

What to watch

Paint plus a plate can buckle. If the plate warps, set a book on it after it is dry. Small shells are not for children who still put things in their mouths.

The Imagination Hive is a children's art and STEM studio in Milton, Ontario. These projects use ordinary supplies so you can start at the kitchen table.

Keep making