Take the children on an imaginary trip to the seaside this summer and make this fabulous rock pool. Collect recycled materials such as egg boxes, foil pie cases and scraps of craft foam and wool, and in no time at all you’ll have created your very own sealife centre! Suitable for ages 5 to 7 years old. Read the simple instructions below to get started:
Art materials you will need:
- A piece of thick card
- Newspaper
- Egg boxes
- Masking tape
- PVA glue & water
- A plastic container
- Large brush for glue
- Kitchen paper towels
- Paints & brushes or sponges
- Green tissue paper
- Craft foam & bubblewrap
- Scissors
- Googly eyes
- Pipe cleaners & wool
- Pencil & large plate
- Small foil pie cases
How to make a Rock Pool:
- Draw around a large plate onto thick card to make a circle shape – a cardboard box is ideal for this. Adult supervision may be required to cut out the circle.
- Cut up some egg cartons into sections with 2 or 3 compartments, then glue them around the edge of the card base. You can add strips of newspaper too – twist them and wrap them in tape to help hold the shape. If you let PVA glue dry for a few minutes this is easier to do.
- Make a 50:50 mix of PVA glue and water in a container, then brush over the card base. Lay pieces of kitchen towel over the top and press down over the ‘rocks’, adding more glue.
- Leave the rock pool in a warm place until it has completely dried – this may take around 24 hours.
- Paint the base with a big brush or sponge. A lighter colour sponged over a darker colour will make the rocks look more realistic. Paste green tissue paper seaweed over the rocks.
Steps on crafting a starfish:
- Cut a star shape from orange craft foam. Then use bubble wrap or a LEGO® construction brick sponged with paint to print a dot pattern onto the foam. Let the paint dry and add some eyes.
Create your clam with these steps:
- Paint two small foil pie cases and leave them to dry. Then glue or tape them together as shown in the picture above. Glue two googly eyes peeping out from the middle. See picture below.
Instructions for your Octopus:
- Paint a medium-sized foil pie case in orange for the body. Let it dry, then tape pipe cleaner legs to the underside. Add craft foam claws taped to short pieces of pipe cleaner and two googly eyes.
Instructions for your Anemones:
- Cut out a section from an egg box, gluing in an extra piece to make a complete cup (see pictures above and right for guidance). Paint the sections and leave to dry. Then make a hole in the middle and push strands of thick wool into the hole to make the tentacles.
This great project has been designed by Charlotte Stowell and supplied by Creative Steps. Each issue of Creative Steps Magazine contains dozens of inspiring ideas and fun crafts to help you encourage learning through creative play. Ideal for everyone caring for young children. Get an exclusive 33% discount on an annual subscription with Creative Steps by using promo code EYRXT33
We would love to see how you get on! Send us pictures of your masterpieces on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and don’t forget to use the hashtag #EYRhub.
