Create an ocean-themed display for your classroom. Cover a bulletin board or wall with blue paper. Add brown paper for sand at the bottom if desired. Next, ask students to create ocean creatures and plants to place in the mural. Cut out ocean plants, fish, octopus, shark, dolphin and shell shapes from white cardstock. Let each student choose a few shapes to decorate. Provide paint, markers, crayons and glue, and let students get creative. Once the student is finished, let him attach his work to the mural.
Use seashells to create hanging mobiles. Gather sea shells of different sizes and varieties. Before the activity, drill a small hole at the tip of each shell. Give students paint and glitter, and invite them to paint the shells. Next, attach white string to each shell by looping it through the hole and tying it tightly. Give students two tongue depressors, and show them how to glue them together to make a cross. Tie one string to each end of a tongue depressor so that the shells hang at different heights. Use a piece of string tied to the top to hang the mobiles from the ceiling of the classroom.
Create starfish using sand. Cut out large star shapes from white cardstock, and give one to each student. Provide yellow or light brown paint, and let students paint one side of the star. Once the star is dry, give each student a small paper cup filled with sand or glitter and place their starfish on a shallow tray, paper plate or newspaper. Help students use a paintbrush to cover their painted star with a light layer of glue. Next, show students how to pour the sand out slowly onto their starfish until it is covered. Once the starfish is covered in sand, let it dry for several hours before shaking off the excess sand.
Create a jellyfish to hang in the classroom. Give each student a medium-sized white paper bag. Provide students with paint and paintbrushes, and invite them to paint the bag in bright colors. Once the bag is dry, give students several sheets of newspaper and show them how to crumple it and place it gently inside the bag. Use a piece of twine or string to very loosely tie the top of the bag, so that it looks like an upside down mushroom. If the bag is long, cut a bit off of the top using scissors. Next, give students crepe paper in different colors and lengths, and show them how to glue the crepe paper to the top of the bag. Once the glue is dry, turn the bag upside down so that the crepe paper hangs and the bag looks like a jellyfish. To hang the jellyfish, attach string to the bottom of the bag using clear tape and hang from the ceiling.