Fast and Easy Ocean Craft

Summer school is quickly coming to a close. Only two more days. It has been a great experience. I think all of us have had a great time! This week we have been doing all things oceans.  I am pretty fortunate, my grandmother was a well known shell collector. She and her husband traveled all over the world collecting shells and other things they found while diving.  While they left the majority of their collection to a museum, we were fortunate to get some shells and coral. After showing my Cubs the real thing, reading books, and a couple of video clips, we made our own coral reefs. 

Step 1

While I have always used salt dough to make my coral reefs, this year I was fortunate to have all of my crafting supplies provided by a grant. So, I chose to use Crayola Model Magic. Great colors and makes this craft a one day craft vs two day.

I have provided a salt dough recipe in case you want to use that instead.

Make Salt Dough 

(Salt Dough Recipe - this is for a single recipe. Double, Triple as needed)

1/2 c salt

1/2 c water

1 c Flour

Add the 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour to a bowl. Stir in the water adding it slowly- you may not need all of the water. You want the dough to be somewhat dry.

Step 2

Go on a stick hunt. We have some great trees on our school grounds. We are always sure to find the perfect stick. You need one that has a lot of small branches.

Step 3

Cover the stick with Model Magic. If using salt dough you have to let it dry over night and paint it after dried.

(not a big stick but it does have several little branches)

Step 4 

Use ocean themed foam stickers to decorate. 

There you have it, a quick and easy coral reef.