We braved Costco this past weekend and my son of course wanted to try every sample available. The garbage can was never handy so I carefully folded the liners in my pocket and went on shopping. When the checkout lines were insane as usual I grabbed them and we played with them, then I got the idea to turn them into a jellyfish craft. Here’s how we did it.
- Gather your materials. You will need some cupcake liners, markers, tape, tissue paper, googly eyes, and a piece of blue construction paper.
- Start by folding your liner in half. Oh and yes these are the liners from Costco, but don’t worry they just had dried mango in them nothing gooey.
- Have your child color them with markers. It was interesting because my son was coloring really really carefully on these, instead of with his normal wild abandon.
- While they color the liners, cut the tissue paper into thin strips.
- Place the tissue paper on the back and tape down. We used tape because we need to glue the eyes on the front and glue on both sides is super messy especially when tissue paper bleeds. Double stick tape is great for this because the tissue will stay put immediately.
- Glue your jelly fish onto the paper.
- Now you can add the googly eyes *You can also decorate the construction paper with an under the sea theme. After Costco and a craft my son was done!
Books!
Commotion in the Ocean
by Giles Andreae is a happy book full of rhymes about all sorts of sea creatures, including jelly fish. Each page has rhyming text that goes along with the animal. The book is cute and the illustrations are cartoonish. My son enjoyed it pointing out the animals. That said it’s not a must buy, more like a great to have on hand when you are specifically learning about the subject.
Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea
by Jan Peck is about a little boy swimming in the “deep” looking for treasure. Along the way he encounters different sea animals and greets and says good bye to each before swimming away on his treasure hunt. The cute kicker is that all along the little boy is really in his bath tub and the animals are just toys. I liked the twist and so did my son who then requested a laundry basket to play bath, funny how he didn’t actually want a bath… a mom can dream!
Otto Goes to the Beach
by Todd Parr was a steal of a deal at the Goodwill last week! I got a hardcover in perfect condition for 70 cents. My bargin hunting aside, I really enjoy this book as did my son. Otto is a dog who goes to the beach but no one wants to do the same things as he does, even the fish swim the other way! In the end after feeling very sad Otto finds a new friend and all his misery is forgotten. I love Todd Parr books, I love the insanely bright colors, the cute simplistic illustrations and I love the messages they send. This book followed his other books perfectly and provided a great final message about not giving up finding a friend who will like all the same things you do!
Commotion in the Ocean
by Giles Andreae is a happy book full of rhymes about all sorts of sea creatures, including jelly fish. Each page has rhyming text that goes along with the animal. The book is cute and the illustrations are cartoonish. My son enjoyed it pointing out the animals. That said it’s not a must buy, more like a great to have on hand when you are specifically learning about the subject.
Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck is about a little boy swimming in the “deep” looking for treasure. Along the way he encounters different sea animals and greets and says good bye to each before swimming away on his treasure hunt. The cute kicker is that all along the little boy is really in his bath tub and the animals are just toys. I liked the twist and so did my son who then requested a laundry basket to play bath, funny how he didn’t actually want a bath… a mom can dream!
Otto Goes to the Beach by Todd Parr was a steal of a deal at the Goodwill last week! I got a hardcover in perfect condition for 70 cents. My bargin hunting aside, I really enjoy this book as did my son. Otto is a dog who goes to the beach but no one wants to do the same things as he does, even the fish swim the other way! In the end after feeling very sad Otto finds a new friend and all his misery is forgotten. I love Todd Parr books, I love the insanely bright colors, the cute simplistic illustrations and I love the messages they send. This book followed his other books perfectly and provided a great final message about not giving up finding a friend who will like all the same things you do!
Courtney says
Cute!
Amy says
I love to hear where your inspiration comes from. They are adorable…love the book selections too!
Michelle says
Very resourceful and creative! Good job!
Jennifer says
Cute! We will have to try this!
Katrina says
I love your blog. You have such great ideas – I just need to plan better to do activities just like these.
Just thought you might want to know about a special on Todd Parr books
http://www.huggiesbookclub.com.au/index.php?book=2010
Once again – thanks so much for your ideas – you are such a great Mum.
AmyG says
These are so cute! I will definitely be doing this, over the summer. Thanks!
kay wilcoxon says
I was really impressed with the simplicity of these cute jellyfish.An idea would also be to make them into little ghosts for Halloween on black paper.Thanks for all these super ideas 🙂
Alyse Faas says
Aw, this was a really nice post. In concept I want to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and actual effort to make a very good article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and not at all appear to get one thing done.
liz tait says
I love your step by step instructions & photos & how you listed materials needed. Thanks so much for sharing your creativty. My preschool is doing an ocean theme mural and your jellyfish will. A fun touch.