This week I am sharing activities that go along with the book A House for a Hermit Crab. Earlier in the week, I shared a set of printables that can be used to sequence the calendar. Today I have fun paper plate crab craft. (You know that I love ocean themed paper plate crafts. Last summer I shared a swimming jellyfish craft, a woven waves watercolor fish craft and a fine motor octopus craft.)
This crab craft was designed to help kids work on fine motor skills. Here are some of the fine motor skills this craft explores:
- Creating a spiral line
- Cork painting on the spiral
- Tracing a hand
- Cutting out the spiral and the hand
Creating the Crab Craft
Due to the fact that the two paper plates your children will paint will need to dry. You can have them start the craft in the morning and finish it in the afternoon.
Crab Craft Supplies
- Corks
- Scissors
- Two Paper Plates Per Child
- Tempera or Acrylic Paint (Blue, Green, Gold, Red, and Magenta)
- Large Wiggly Eyes
Before You Craft
Before you have your children create this crab craft, you will want to read them the book A House for Hermit Crab. Actually, you could read it to your children while the paint is drying.
Putting the Crab Craft Together
The first thing you or your children will need to do it draw a spiral with a black marker or crayon on the front of one of the plates.
Then they will need to dip a cork into the blue, green or gold paint. They will stamp the cork along the black spiral on the first paper plate. We had a plate with puddles of the three colors on it. The colors were used individually and smeared together. Your children can do that too.
Next second plate will need to be painted with the red and magenta paint. We painted the plate red first and then dabbed magenta paint on top of it.
The next step is to trace the child’s hand onto the back of the red and magenta plate. Then it can be cut out.
You and your children will have to decide if they want to cut along the spiral on the first plate or leave it whole. We cut the spiral out of ours.
Finally, you need to glue the spiral and the handprint together to create the paper plate crab craft. The wiggly eyes will also need to be glue on at this time.
If you like this crab craft, here are some more ocean crafts you will love.
Marbled Fish Craft
