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Looking for a fun puffer fish craft for kids? This Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft is an easy ocean art project using simple supplies and a free printable template.
Puffer Fish Craft for Kids
Looking for a fun ocean craft for kids? This Fork Painted Puffer Fish Craft is a creative way to explore one of the ocean’s most fascinating creatures! Using a plastic fork and paint, kids can create a spiky puffer fish while practicing fine motor skills and learning about life under the sea. This easy puffer fish craft is perfect for ocean units, summer activities, homeschool lessons, or under-the-sea themed fun.
Puffer fish are one of the most unique sea creatures in the ocean. Their round bodies, funny faces, and ability to puff up like a balloon when threatened make them fascinating for kids of all ages. That’s why we thought they would be the perfect inspiration for this simple ocean craft!
To create our puffer fish, we used one of our favorite crafting techniques here at Made to be a Momma—fork painting! The fork creates the perfect spiky texture for the fish’s body. Once the paint dried, we added simple paper fins, googly eyes, and a few ocean-inspired details to bring our colorful puffer fish to life.
Free Puffer Fish Template
To make this fork painted puffer fish craft even easier, we’ve included a free printable puffer fish template. Simply print the template, cut out the pieces, and use them as a guide while creating your colorful ocean animal. The template makes this craft perfect for classrooms, homeschool lessons, summer camps, and ocean-themed learning activities.
HOW TO VIDEO:
Fun Puffer Fish Facts for Kids
Did you know puffer fish are one of the most unique creatures in the ocean?
- Puffer fish can puff up like a balloon when they feel threatened.
- Some puffer fish have tiny spikes covering their bodies.
- Puffer fish live in warm oceans around the world.
- Even though they look slow, puffer fish are excellent swimmers.
- There are more than 100 different species of puffer fish!
Learning a few fun facts makes this ocean craft even more engaging for kids.
Materials Needed To Make Fork Painted Puffer Fish
- White Cardstock
- Plastic Fork, make sure the back side of the fork is smooth
- Paint, we used Blue and Orange
- FREE Puffer Fish Template
- Cardstock, in coordinating colors for Puffer Fish
- Googly eyes, we used two different sizes
- Glue
- Black Sharpie or Black Marker
How To Make a Puffer Fish Craft
Step 1: Prepare your Spiky Body
Dip your plastic fork into a small puddle of paint. Making sure your prongs are fully covered. In a circle shape, press your fork and lightly rock back and forth, like a rocking chair, pick back up and repeat process until your circle is full. Our finished circle was about 5 inches in diameter.
Step 2: Prepare your Template Pieces
Using our free puffer fish template, cut out your fin, mouth, seaweed and bubble pieces. Use our images as a guide.
Step 3: Assemble Your Puffer Fish
Add your fins and various puffer fish pieces to your dried fork painted circle. Add line details to your fins. Add your seaweed and bubbles if desired. Lastly add two googly eyes. We used two different sizes. 🙂 Trim excess white paper if desired.
Crafty Tips & Classroom Use:
- As mentioned, make sure your plastic forks have a smooth back. Some plastic forks have an indentation in them and it makes it near impossible for transfer paint to a piece of paper.
- Feel free to use whatever colors you want to use for your puffer fish! Purple, pink and yellow would be fun options as well!
- Instead of using googly eyes you can encourage kids to make their own eyes out of white cardstock and a black marker.
- I have found that acrylic craft paint dries faster than Tempera Paint. For this craft we used acrylic craft paint – like Apple Barrel. However, keep in mind that acrylic craft paint is not washable whereas Tempera paint is.
For more Ocean Crafts for Kids Try These:
