Young students can learn about the beauty and variety of marine fish by creating a unique fish out of a coffee filter. Instruct each student to flatten a coffee filter onto a table top, then color over the surface of the filter with colorful washable markers. Fill a squeeze bottle with water, and squeeze it over the filter. This will cause the colors to blend together like a watercolor painting. Allow the filter to dry completely. Cut a fish shape out of the filter, making sure to include a tail and fins. Glue on shiny objects, such as sequins, glitter or aluminum foil pieces. Glue a googly eye onto the head of the fish. Once dry, all of the coffee filter fish can be displayed as a school of different fish.
Jellyfish are unusual and unique marine creatures whose likenesses young students can create from a coffee filter and birthday streamers. Flatten out a coffee filter on a table, then color it slightly with washable markers. Fill a spray bottle with water, and spray the filter so that the colors run together slightly. Let the filter dry completely. Attach 18-inch-long pieces of birthday streamer underneath the coffee filter with tape. When you hold up the filter, it resembles a jellyfish.
Students can learn what it might be like to see inside the ocean by making a marine life diorama with paper plates and construction paper. Start by cutting the middles out of two paper plates. Tape plastic wrap onto the inside of one plate, sealing off the cut out section. Tape a piece of blue construction paper on the inside of the second paper plate. Using colorful construction paper, cut out shapes that resemble coral, seaweed and fish. Glue the seaweed and coral shapes onto the plate with the blue construction paper. Attach a piece of thread onto each fish shape, and tape the thread to the top rim of the same plate. Place the plate with the clear plastic on top of the plate containing the shapes, and staple it together around the rim. When held upright, the fish will appear to swim inside the ocean.