• About
    • All About Us
    • Contact
    • Disclosures
    • Privacy
    • Giveaway Rules
    • Sponsor
    • Features
  • Favorite Supplies
  • Gift Ideas for Kids
  • Our Books
  • By Age
    • Tweens
    • Elementary
    • Kindergarten
    • Preschool
    • Toddler
    • For Parents
    • For Teachers

Buggy and Buddy

Meaningful Activities for Learning & Creating

  • Create
    • Art Projects for Kids
    • Crafts for Kids
    • Recipes for Playing & Creating
  • Learn
    • Literacy
      • Book Sets
      • The Alphabet
      • Reading
      • Children’s Books with Activities
    • Math
    • Science
    • NGSS Science
  • Holidays
    • Fall
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • 4th of July
    • Chinese New Year
    • Christmas
    • Earth Day
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Halloween
    • Mother’s Day
    • New Year’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • School Days
    • Birthdays
    • Tooth Fairy
  • Books Activities
  • Science
  • Printables
  • SHOP
You are here: Home / Create / Crafts for Kids / Fine Motor Octopus Craft for Kids

May 28, 2014 By Chelsey 23 Comments

Fine Motor Octopus Craft for Kids

Share
Pin6.7K
Tweet
6.7KShares

Here’s a fun ocean animal craft for kids– paper plate and pasta octopus craft! Not only is it fun to make, but it also provides all kinds of fine motor practice and can be done over and over.

Follow our Crafts for Kids Pinterest board!

 

Here's a fun summer craft for kids that also provides fine motor and counting practice~ A Paper Plate Octopus! ~ Buggy and Buddy

 

With our local aquarium having a new octopus exhibit, my 2 1/2 year old son has become quite fascinated with all things octopus. I thought it’d be fun to create an octopus inspired craft for him that also provided counting and fine motor practice.

Our fine motor octopus is super simple to make, using items you most likely already have at home. And not only did it provide fine motor and counting practice like I had hoped, but I noticed my 6 year old daughter using it to create patterns!

Here’s how to make this fun octopus craft for kids! (This post contains affiliate links.)

 

Here's a fun summer craft for kids that also provides fine motor and counting practice~ A Paper Plate Octopus! ~ Buggy and Buddy

Fine Motor Octopus Craft for Kids

Materials for the Octopus Craft

  • Paper plate
  • Single hole punch
  • Pipe cleaners (We received our fuzzy sticks for free from Craftprojectideas.)
  • Markers
  • Rigatoni pasta (Some rigatoni is wider than others. If you want your pasta to stay on the pipe cleaners, be sure to use the skinnier rigatoni. We found ours at our local Target.)

 

using dyed pasta in summer craft for kids

Directions for Making the Octopus Craft

We dyed our pasta before using it for this craft!

1. Draw an octopus face on your paper plate. (Your child might enjoy doing this on his/her own!)

2. Punch eight holes along the bottom rim of the paper plate.

3. Twist one pipe cleaner into each hole.

4. Leave a bowl of colored rigatoni pasta nearby for your child to use. (If you don’t have pasta, you can also cut up straws into small pieces to use instead.)

 

Paper Plate Octopus Craft

Using the Octopus Craft

How my toddler used the activity: My son loved sliding the pasta onto each leg of the octopus. Sometimes we’d count together as he added the pasta, and other times he just sat quietly working. He literally did this for over 30 minutes and came back to it often over a period of a few days, removing the pasta and doing it over again and again.

 

Summer Craft for Kids: Fine Motor Octopus

 

How my Kindergartener used the activity: Lucy also enjoyed playing with the fine motor octopus. She started by making patterns with the colored pasta. Then she moved onto counting. She wanted to see how many pieces of pasta would fit on the plate and counted out 200 pasta pieces and checked to see if they’d all fit onto the plate. (They did!)

I  always love how the kids surprise me with ideas they come up with all on their own. Our fine motor octopus ended up providing a lot more opportunities for learning that I had originally intended!

 

Here's a fun summer craft for kids that also provides fine motor and counting practice~ A Paper Plate Octopus! ~ Buggy and Buddy

fine motor octopus craft for kids using a paper plate

Find more fun activities in our ebook! Learn more about it here, or buy it now here!

Fizz, Pop, Bang! 40 Playful Science and Math Activities for Kids

Filed Under: Crafts for Kids, Fine & Gross Motor Play, Invitations to Create, Ocean, Preschool, Quick & Easy, Summer Tagged With: crafts for kids, fine motor, ocean, octopus

« 9 Pretend Play Ideas Inspired by Nature
Our Favorite Children’s Books for Summer »

Comments

  1. Ang Johnson says

    June 1, 2014 at 12:05 am

    So cute! I bet my kids would love it!

    Reply
  2. Erica Loop says

    June 5, 2014 at 3:39 am

    So simple, but also creative. I love the “arms”.

    Reply
  3. Anna@The Measured Mom says

    June 8, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Love this! Using pipe cleaners for beading is such a great idea. Pinned to my letter O board. Thanks for linking up!

    Reply
  4. stephanie says

    June 8, 2014 at 8:37 pm

    So sweet! Thanks for sharing at After School!

    Reply
  5. Krystal says

    June 10, 2014 at 5:13 am

    What a great idea. My 3 kids would love to do this!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Our Favorite Children's Books for Summer - Buggy and Buddy says:
    May 31, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    […] Fine Motor Octopus Craft […]

    Reply
  2. Saturday Share – May 31st | Storytimes And More on the Go says:
    May 31, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    […] By BuggyAndBuddy: https://buggyandbuddy.com/fine-motor-octopus/ […]

    Reply
  3. Planning Summer Fun for Kids - Fun-A-Day! says:
    June 6, 2014 at 9:08 pm

    […] Buddy and Buggy’s octopus craft for some fine motor […]

    Reply
  4. Fine Motor Sun Craft for Kids - Buggy and Buddy says:
    June 9, 2014 at 12:12 pm

    […] 3. If you don’t have any straws, use some tube-shaped pasta instead! Here’s how we dyed our own pasta and used it in a similar craft- Fine Motor Octopus. […]

    Reply
  5. Indoor Rainy Day Activities for Kids | ABC Creative Learning says:
    June 17, 2014 at 5:43 am

    […] Octopus Craft […]

    Reply
  6. Ocean Slime Recipe - Buggy and Buddy says:
    June 17, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    […] for kids the past few weeks (like our Rocky Shore Small World with Ocean Playdough, our Fine Motor Octopus Craft and our Free Printable Beach Scavenger Hunt). So this week when one of my good friends, Fun at […]

    Reply
  7. Down by the Sea - 10 Ocean Themed Activities for Kids - From ABCs to ACTs says:
    June 17, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    […] Fine Motor Octopus from Buggy and Buddy […]

    Reply
  8. 10 Summer Indoor Learning Activities for Rainy and Hot Days | iGameMom says:
    June 24, 2014 at 7:57 am

    […] love this Octopus craft that is easy and […]

    Reply
  9. Squirt Gun Painting | Fireflies and Mud Pies says:
    June 29, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    […] Fine Motor Octopus by Buggy and Buddy This super cute craft will have your little one smiling and practicing important fine motor skills! […]

    Reply
  10. Paper Bag Crafts: Explorer Satchel and Map from Just One Paper Bag - Buggy and Buddy says:
    October 24, 2014 at 11:15 pm

    […] Fine Motor Octopus Craft […]

    Reply
  11. Farm Animal Crafts: Windsocks - Buggy and Buddy says:
    January 23, 2015 at 3:23 pm

    […] Fine Motor Paper Plate Octopus […]

    Reply
  12. 10+ {Unique} Ocean Activities and Crafts for Kids - Buggy and Buddy says:
    April 16, 2015 at 10:46 pm

    […] My three year old has been fascinated with all things octopus so I created this simple fine motor octopus craft for him using a paper plate and pipe […]

    Reply
  13. Tide Pool Science Experiment for Kids - Buggy and Buddy says:
    May 6, 2015 at 8:09 am

    […] Fine Motor Octopus Craft […]

    Reply
  14. 20+ Simple Straw Crafts - Busy Mom's Helper says:
    June 8, 2015 at 3:04 am

    […] Octupus Fine-Motor Craft from Buggy and Buddy […]

    Reply
  15. Preschool Sea Crafts for Kids - Crafts on Sea says:
    January 26, 2016 at 10:45 pm

    […] and Buggy’s octopus craft is great for fine motor skills […]

    Reply
  16. So Much Fun! Summer Activities for Preschoolers | Hands On As We Grow says:
    June 1, 2016 at 3:03 pm

    […] Buggy and Buddy’s octopus craft with colored pasta. Add some string and turn it into a tentacled wind catcher for the […]

    Reply
  17. Paper Plate Pufferfish Craft for Kids - Buggy and Buddy says:
    May 22, 2017 at 7:44 pm

    […] been on a paper plate crafting kick- especially when it comes to sea animals! We’ve made a paper plate octopus and just recently a paper plate sunfish. We just always seem to have paper plates around the house […]

    Reply
  18. Ocean Crafts for Kids Made from Common Materials Around the House - Buggy and Buddy says:
    June 4, 2017 at 9:50 pm

    […] Paper Plate Fine Motor Octopus Craft from Buggy and Buddy […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

New? Start here…

Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

Popular This Week

  • Straw Rockets- fun science activity for kids! (w/ Free Rocket Template) ~ BuggyandBuddy.com STEM for Kids: Straw Rockets (with Free Rocket Template)
  • How to Make a Kite~ buggyandbuddy.com How to Make a Kite
  • Chinese New Year Crafts and Activities for Kids 50+ Chinese New Year Crafts and Activities for Kids
  • STEAM / Science for Kids: How to Make a Kaleidoscope- explore reflections , light, and symmetry! (Meets NGSS- Next Generation Science Standards) ~ BuggyandBuddy.com Science for Kids: How to Make a Kaleidoscope
  • Over 30 Free Printable Scavenger Hunts for Kids 30+ Free Printable Scavenger Hunts for Kids
  • How to Make Snow Dough~ BuggyandBuddy.com How to Make Snow Dough

Copyright © 2021 Buggy and Buddy. All rights reserved. You may not take images or content from this site without written permission.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy