5 Fun Beach Related Crafts

The ocean is a beautiful place, a wondrous place. And what better way to remember your trip to the ocean, or make believe you are on your way to the ocean, then to make some beautiful ocean related crafts.

1. Create a Wave in a Bottle.

Ever want to see the ocean waves whenever you like? Well now you can by making a Wave in a Bottle.

You will need:
A clear plastic 2 liter soda bottle.
Food coloring- blue and green to make the ocean color
Clear Vegetable Oil
Plain water
Glitter and small shells.

To make:

Fill your bottle half way with water, and add a few drops of food coloring to make your ocean color. I like to use a mix of 3 parts blue to 1 part green. Next add some glitter, i like to use blue, green or silver. I try to use the smallest grain glitter i can find. Add in your shells. Using a small funnel fill the rest of the bottle with vegetable oil and glue the cap closed. I do this by putting glue on the insides of the threads of the lid and screwing it on.
To see the waves, tilt bottle side to side, or swirl in a circle to make a funnel. This is a great craft for small children.

2. Ocean Diorama

Create an ocean scene in a box.

You will need:

A shoe box from an adult pair of shoes.
Crayons and Markers.
Tape.
Thread.
Scissors
Craft items such as Pipe cleaners, glitter, thin cardboard or poster board ( to glue images to.)
If you want, plastic or foam ocean animals.

To make:

Take your shoe box and decorate the inside to look like the ocean floor. I lay mine on the side and fit construction paper to the back and bottoms to look like water and sand. Another idea for this is to use fish tank backgrounds.

Draw in fish, bubbles,rocks, sea weed, coral, and anything else you think you may see on the ocean floor. Get inspiration from Internet images. We also added octopus, jelly fish, sea horses and a mermaid. We use glitter and glue to make bubbles and to adorn our mammals and mermaid. We use the pipe cleaners and craft foam to make seaweed rocks and coral.

Placing your marine animals is fun. You can decide if you want to hang foam or plastic animals, or you can print out or draw them on craft foam. You can hang them from the top of your box, or you can glue them to the back. Hanging them creates a nice 3 d look.

If you like you can also decorate the outside of your box, though we like to put plain construction paper around it. The focus is inside.

3. Under the Sea pencil holder

Make a pretty little pen and pencil holder to remind you of the ocean.

You will need:
Empty frosting can, or other small can. You can also use a plain mug or cup.
Double sided tape.
Hot glue if you are using a mug or cup.
Markers.
Blue felt or craft foam.
Scissors
Assorted under the sea craft foam shapes if you like.

To make:

Decide if you want to make your cup out of felt or foam and get enough of the blue to warp around your container. When your background is measured and cut you can decorate. Using markers draw on seaweed, rocks, waves, and bubbles. Using assorted craft sea foam shapes pick out your fish to put on the background. Use hot glue to attach if using felt. With foam, double sided tape works easily. Then to attach the background, use a hot glue gun and let cool. Add in your pens and pencils.

This can also be adapted to decorate the outside of other containers, such as planters.

4. Paper Plate Fish

This is a fun idea for children of all ages. You can make fish, whales, sharks... Anything under the sea, just use your imagination.

You will need:
Paper Plates.
Markers crayons or markers.
Glue.
Googly eyes- optional.

To make:
For a standard fish, cut a wedge out of a paper plate. This will be the mouth of the fish. Take the wedge and attach it opposite the mouth, making the bottom fin. Attach eyes and decorate. Be creative, you can make many different types of fish, using several plates you can make whales or octopus.

After several fish, you can attach string and make a mobile.

5. Seashell Wind chime

What a fun way to display your beach finds then to create a lovely wind chime. These can be displayed inside in a window, or outside.

You will need:
At least 8 shells. You can find them on a beach, or buy them in craft supply stores.
A wooden embroidery hoop.
Yarn.
Hot Glue Gun.
Key Chain Ring.

To Make:

Using the two pieces of the hoop, string 8 pieces of yarn of assorted lengths and 4 pieces of exactly the same length, tighten the hoop to hold the yarn tight. Tie off edges of the yarn. Using the hot glue gun, attach the 8 shells to the end of the yarn. Use generous amounts of glue. Allow to dry completely. Make sure you leave 4 pieces of yarn in a cross formation, these will be the hanger. When the shells have dried completely. Take the last 4 pieces of yarn and tie to the key chain ring on the opposite sides of the hoop as the shells. Use some hot glue to secure the yarn to the ring.
When its dry completely, hang in desired location.

These are but a few craft ideas that are related to the beach and ocean. With a little imagination and time, you can create some beautiful crafts reminiscent of the ocean.