Functional paper plates become octopi, fish, starfish and ocean plants as the basis for any ocean life bulletin board. These easy-to-cut items are ideal for kindergarteners who are learning motor skills. Have the children draw and cut out large fish, jellyfish and stars from their paper plates. They can also color them with markers, crayons or paint or decorate with glue and glitter or other craft items. For jellyfish or octopi, have the children cut the paper plate in half with a wavy line and glue strips of paper to the bottom for tentacles.
Having kindergartners create stories about their newfound ocean life friends is another example of bulletin-board-ready activities. Toward the middle or end of the year when they have learned the art of writing, ask students to write simple stories about their favorite ocean life critter. Or, guide the children to come up with a story together that you can display on the board. Start with a type of creature or a single sentence about ocean life and have the children -- one by one -- come up with the next sentence or part of the story.
One of the most important pieces of a bulletin board is the background. For ocean life, this can be a classroom project all the kids can get into. Whether your bulletin board is dedicated to under the sea or about the ocean in general, the kindergartners can practice their motor and other skills by painting the water, bubbles, the ocean floor and other background elements for your colorful ocean life bulletin board.
Not all dioramas are heavy; use the right materials to display lightweight dioramas on the bulletin board. Dioramas can be either individual crafts or a classroom project. For a classroom project, get a large, lightweight cardboard box and paint the inside and outside. Ask children to cut out ocean life creatures from construction paper. Tape pieces of string to the back of the paper sea life and hang them from the "ceiling" of the diorama. Cut out the center of bowl-like paper plates to create each diorama. Have the children glue or tape colorful cutout ocean creatures to the back of blue, transparent plastic and glue this to the inside of one of the plates so that the creatures are facing "out." Glue the paper plates together with the bowl shapes facing outward.