Ocean Animal Collage Art

Create beautiful ocean animal collages using recycled cardboard and your favorite Kid Made Modern craft supplies! The Arts and Crafts Library has almost everything you need for this summer art adventure. Read below to get the full DIY.

Materials Needed: 

• Cardboard (both thick and thin cardboard)
• Black Permanent marker
• Scissors
• Kid Made Modern washable paint
• Paintbrushes
• Paper towels
• Washable marker lid
• Watercolor paints
• Glue
• Pom poms
• Fuzzy sticks
• Beads and gems
• Googly eyes

How To: 

Step 1: Draw an ocean animal on thin cardboard (like a cereal box) using your black permanent marker. I drew a sea turtle, a seahorse and a jellyfish! I left the tentacles off of the jellyfish to add later using fuzzy sticks.

Step 2: Use your watercolor paints to paint your ocean animals! I tried not to add too much water to the paint to help the colors show. The colors will dry much darker than they appear as you are painting. If your black lines begin to look a little dull, trace back over them with your permanent marker after all of the paint dries! Once they dry completely, cut out the animal shapes.

Step 3: Using thick cardboard, cut out a square or rectangle for each animal you plan to collage. You want these shapes to be slightly larger than the animals you drew. Gently pour some of your washable paints directly onto each cardboard rectangle. I used a combination of dark blue, light blue and purple. Use a brush to spread the paint out and mix colors together until it covers the piece of cardboard.

Step 4: Immediately, take a piece of paper towel and gently blot the paint on your cardboard to remove some of it. Blot across the entire surface of the cardboard, removing paint as you go. 

Step 5: Take the lid off of a washable marker. Dip the lid into white paint and press it gently onto the cardboard to create a print that looks like bubbles!

Step 6: Once the cardboard has dried completely, you can begin to assemble your collage. Take a small square of cardboard and glue it to the center of your background. Then, glue your animal on top of the small square. This helps it to stand out from the background. Glue some googly eyes onto each of your animals. You can glue beads or gems to your animals to decorate them, if you like. Next, glue some pom poms around the animal to finish things off! For the jellyfish, I also added fuzzy stick tentacles by glueing them to the back of the jellyfish body. 

Add a little STEAM!

Here are a few ways you can extend your learning after you finish this project!

1. Do some research! Use books or the internet to look up interesting facts about the animals you created! You can write these on the back of your art project and share them, too!
2. Create a collage for a different habitat! Do you have a favorite animal that does NOT live in the ocean? Do a little research about it’s habitat and create a collage of the place that your favorite animal lives! Change your paint colors and design to match that unique habitat.