Kids love to play in and with water, so these projects use it for science, art and floating toys. “Water crafts” here means crafts you make with water, or that float in it. Pick a hot-weather outdoor project, a bath-time toy, or a calm sensory activity, and you will find the materials and steps for each below.
Safety first: always supervise kids near water, even a few inches of it in a tub or bin. Small items like googly eyes, pom poms, pebbles and glitter are choking hazards for children under 3. Adults should handle hot glue guns, open flames and cutting.
Floating Sea Turtle
Ages: 3 and up, with help. Difficulty: easy. Time: 30 minutes plus drying.
Source: By Jennifer @ Sugar, Spice and Glitter, “Floating Turtle Craft” (https://sugarspiceandglitter.com/floating-turtle-craft/)
A plastic cup shell on a craft foam body floats well, so these turtles are good for the bath or a water table. The foam is what keeps them afloat.
Materials needed
- Plastic fruit cups or applesauce containers
- Craft paint (green or blue)
- School glue
- Googly eyes (skip for children under 3 and draw the eyes with a marker)
- Green craft foam
- Scissors, pencil and a paintbrush
Directions
- Mix equal parts glue and paint, then paint the inside of the container, which stops the paint flaking off the plastic. Kids can use blue, green or any color.
- While the paint dries, trace the cup onto craft foam, then draw and cut out a turtle shape with a head, four flippers and a tail around the outline.
- When the cup is dry, glue it upside down onto the foam turtle and add eyes.
- Let the glue dry, then float the turtles in the bath, a bin or a water table.
Milk Jug Raft
Ages: 4 and up, with an adult. Difficulty: easy to medium. Time: 20 minutes. Adult cuts the jug and uses the glue gun.
Source: By PBS for Parents, “Milk Jug Whitewater Raft” (https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/milk-jug-whitewater-raft)
This little raft is made from the base of a milk jug and carries small toy figures around a bathtub, pool or kiddie pool.
Materials needed
- Empty, rinsed gallon milk jug
- Two cake pop sticks
- Single-hole hole punch
- Duct tape
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun (adult use)
Directions
- An adult cuts off the base of the milk jug. This base is the raft.
- Punch a hole in each of two opposite sides of the base.
- For each paddle, fold a small strip of duct tape over the end of a cake pop stick, smooth it, and trim the tape into a paddle shape.
- Poke the other end of each stick into a hole.
- An adult adds a little hot glue at each hole so the paddles stay in place.
- Float the raft and load it with toy figures.
Sensory Bottles
Ages: 3 and up, with an adult sealing the lids. Difficulty: easy. Time: 30 minutes, plus overnight to dry the caps. Not for children under 3, since a bottle that opens releases choking hazards.
Source: By Kalia Silva-Phillips @ eHow, “DIY Seasonal Sensory Bottles” (https://www.ehow.com/13726120/diy-seasonal-sensory-bottles?utm_source=pinterest.com;utm_medium=referral;utm_content=freestyle;utm_campaign=fanpage)
Sensory bottles give kids something calming to shake, flip and watch. These four match the seasons, so they also help kids talk about how the year changes. The original page no longer loads at the time of writing, so the steps below are the ones from the earlier version of this post.
Materials needed
- Four clear plastic water bottles with caps
- Funnel
- Waterproof adhesive (adult use)
- White glitter and snowflake glitter
- Gold glitter
- Foil metallic sequin confetti
- White and yellow pom poms
- Artificial flowers
- Blue pebbles, white sand and seashells
- Blue food coloring (or ink from a dark blue marker)
- Maple leaves (real or paper)
Directions
- Remove the labels from the bottles. If glue is left behind, rub it off with rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball (adult step) and let it dry.
- Winter: use the funnel to add snowflake glitter, white glitter and white pom poms. Fill the bottle with water.
- Spring: drop in artificial flowers and any greenery, then fill with water.
- Summer: put sand in the bottom, then add pebbles, shells and a yellow pom pom for the sun. Fill the bottle with water, leaving a little room at the top, and add a few drops of blue food coloring. Test the color by shaking with the lid on, and add more a little at a time.
- Autumn: add foil confetti, gold glitter and maple leaves. Use only a small amount of confetti, because too much clumps together. Fill with water.
- Make sure the inside of each cap is completely dry (leave it overnight if you need to), then an adult seals the lid with waterproof adhesive.
- Check the bottles for leaks before handing them over. Throw away any bottle that cracks or leaks.
Create Art with Water Guns
Ages: 4 and up, supervised. Difficulty: easy. Time: 30 to 45 minutes plus drying. Best outdoors.
Source: By Stephanie Dulgarian @ Somewhat Simple, “Water Gun Painting Art Project” (https://www.somewhatsimple.com/fun-summer-art-project-water-gun-painting/)
Kids spray watered-down paint at a taped canvas, and the tape leaves a clean design behind. It gets messy, so do it outside, or cover the floors and walls with garbage bags, a drop cloth or an old sheet.
Materials needed
- Water guns with an easy-to-pull trigger
- Water
- Washable finger paint or tempera paint
- Sandwich baggies
- Canvas
- Painter’s tape
- Scissors
- Garbage bags, drop cloth, old sheet or tablecloth
Directions
- Mix equal parts paint and water in a sandwich bag.
- Snip a small corner off the bag and use it as a funnel to fill the water gun.
- Stick painter’s tape on the canvas in a design, such as initials, stripes or an animal shape.
- Spray the canvas, one color at a time if you like. Remind kids not to aim at faces or eyes.
- Lay the canvas flat to dry completely.
- Peel off the tape to reveal the design.
Butterfly Craft
Ages: 5 and up. Difficulty: easy. Time: 30 minutes plus a few hours of drying. Adult help with scissors and water.
Source: By Chelsey @ Buggy and Buddy, “Science for Kids: Chromatography Butterfly Craft” (https://buggyandbuddy.com/chromatography-butterflies-separating-colors-in-markers/)
Water carries marker ink up a coffee filter and separates it into its component colors, which is called chromatography. Then the dried filters become butterflies. The source recommends Mr. Sketch markers, and any non-permanent (washable, water-based) marker should work. Permanent markers will not.
Materials needed
- Non-permanent markers, like Mr. Sketch
- Pencil
- White coffee filters
- Cups of water (small plastic cups work better than glass ones)
- Pipe cleaners
- Scissors
- String
- Drop cloth or newspaper
Directions
- Cover your workspace with a drop cloth or newspaper.
- Draw a thick circle around the center of a coffee filter with one marker, leaving the very center white. Write the marker color on the filter in pencil, since the color will change.
- Fold the filter in half twice to make a cone.
- Fill a small cup with a little water and balance the filter on the rim, with only the white tip touching the water. Keep the colored part out of the water.
- Watch the water travel up and spread the colors. Repeat with other colors, then lay each filter on newspaper to dry, which can take a few hours.
- To make a butterfly, cut a pipe cleaner in half, pinch the middle of a dry filter to form wings, wrap the pipe cleaner around the middle and bend the ends into antennae.
- Tie a string to the center to hang it up.
Water Bottle Boats
Ages: 4 and up, with an adult cutting. Difficulty: easy. Time: 20 minutes.
Source: By PBS for Parents, “Float DIY Water Bottle Boats” (https://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-and-experiments/float-diy-water-bottle-boats)
Two empty bottles keep this recycled boat afloat. Race them in a tub, then see how many toys each boat can hold.
Materials needed
- Cardboard
- Duct tape (different colors if you want to tell the boats apart)
- Two empty plastic water bottles with caps on
- Scissors
- A plastic container or bathtub filled with water
- Small toys or action figures for passengers
Directions
- Cut a rectangle of cardboard and cover it completely with duct tape.
- Tape the two water bottles side by side to the bottom of the cardboard.
- Cut a triangle of cardboard, cover it in duct tape, and tape it upright as a sail.
- Fill a container or the bathtub with water and race the boats.
- See how many toy passengers a boat can carry before it sinks.
Aquarium in a Mason Jar
Ages: 6 and up with an adult doing the glue gun and heat steps. Difficulty: medium. Time: 45 to 60 minutes. Use a plastic jar for younger kids because glass can break.
Source: By Toni @ Design Dazzle, “Mason Jar Aquarium” (https://www.designdazzle.com/diy-glass-mason-jar-aquarium/)
A mason jar aquarium is a good option for a child who loves aquariums but is not ready for real fish. The fish hang from the lid, so they seem to swim in the water.
Materials needed
- 32 oz or 64 oz mason jar with lid (a wide mouth is easiest)
- Aquarium plants (plastic ones for this craft)
- Aquarium gravel
- Toy fish
- Fishing line
- Sewing needle and pliers (adult use)
- Food coloring
- Hot glue gun (adult use)
- Scissors
Directions
- If the jar lid comes apart into two pieces, an adult seals the pieces together with hot glue.
- Glue the plastic plants to the bottom of the jar.
- Cover the bottom with about an inch of aquarium gravel.
- Adults only: hold the sewing needle with pliers and heat the tip over a flame to melt a small hole through the top fin of each plastic fish. Keep away from children and use ventilation. If the fish is too thick to pierce, tie the line around its body instead.
- Thread fishing line through the hole and leave enough slack for the fish to hang at the right height from the lid. Hot glue the line to the lid once the height is right, making sure the line is fully in the glue. Be careful not to touch the hot glue.
- When the glue is completely dry, snip off the extra line.
- Fill the jar most of the way with water and add a little blue food coloring, starting small and adding more if needed.
- Screw the lid on tightly, and your aquarium is ready to display.
This is a good group craft for kids and their friends.
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