Children will love making these simple tide pool art projects. (They especially love the sensory aspect of the added real sand!) They are perfect for any children interested in sea life or to go with an ocean unit and can be adapted for any age.
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Not only is the California coastline absolutely gorgeous, it also provides a wonderful learning opportunity~ tide pools! Observing various forms of sea life in the tide pools with your children is such a great way to build on their natural curiosity and wonder about the world around them. Lucy and Theo are always excited to find little crabs, sea stars, and anemones around our rocky tide pools nearby.
We have been having so much fun with tide pools that we decided to create some beautiful tide pool artwork. Kids love adding real sand to their project making this a great sensory activity, and it’s perfect for toddlers, preschoolers, and on up! (This post contains affiliate links.)
Tide Pool Art Project for Kids
Materials for Tide Pool Art
- Watercolor paper
- Oil pastels or crayons
- Watercolors and paintbrush
- Liquid glue
- Sand (play sand or craft sand will work)
- Scissors (optional)
Directions for Tide Pool Art
1. Use a blue crayon or oil pastel to draw the shape of your tide pool on the watercolor paper. You can leave the paper rectangular or cut it to be more rounded like we did.
2. Use oil pastels or crayons to draw sea life inside your tide pool. (Lucy and I had previously read lots of books about sea life and tide pools so we had lots of ideas for what to put in ours!)
3. Use blue watercolor to paint inside your tide pool. You can paint right over the oil pastel or crayon drawings. (The oil pastels usually show up more vibrantly after painting, but most crayons work too.)
4. Now paint the area representing the sand outside the tide pool using brown watercolor.
5. Once your painting is dry, it’s time to glue on the sand. Place some liquid glue on a paper plate or inside a little bowl or cup so it’s easily accessible to your child. Use a paintbrush to paint glue over the brown paint.
6. Sprinkle sand on top of the glue.
7. Shake off the excess sand and let it dry!
Here you can see the finished artwork from myself, Lucy (age 5) and Theo (age 2). We all enjoyed making our tide pool art- such a fun activity to do together!