Sharks are some of the coolest animals we get to teach kids about. What they look like, how many different kinds there are, where they live, and of course, what they eat! Sharks may get a bad rap for munching down on people sometimes, but there is more to them than meets the eye. From fun facts and crafts to shark-themed snacks and engaging games, we can’t give you “shark week”, but we can get close with these 30 interactive activities about our toothy aquatic friends.
1. Adorable Clothespin Shark
This awesome shark craft is super cute and unique! Your kids will love making it as well as playing with it by opening and closing the shark clothespin to see it eat the little fishy. The design may look complicated but the assemblage is easy enough for young kids to try.
Learn more: Kix Cereal
2. Feed the Shark Game
This is the ultimate shark party game, your kids will spend hours trying to throw the paper fishies into the different colored shark’s mouths. Not only is this printable shark activity great for improving kids’ motor skills, but it also helps with color recognition and matching.
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
3. Delicious Shark Slime
Time to feed your hungry shark with this edible shark-inspired slime recipe! To make a batch you mix instant pudding with cornstarch and blue food coloring, and for an extrasensory experience, you can add a gummy shark or two for your kids to eat and swim around in their slime.
Learn more: Messy Little Monster
4. Fish and Shark Cup Game
Now here is a fun and crafty idea to kick off shark week and also help your kids with hand-eye coordination. You can make this cup game using a plastic bottle, some string, a small ball, and some paints.
Learn more: DLTK Kids
5. DIY Shark Pencil Holder
This fun shark craft is great for getting back to school. You can put pencils, paintbrushes, flowers, or any supplies you desire in this mini shark’s mouth. To create, you’ll want to have some craft foam, googly eyes, and a hot glue gun. You can mold the shark form around a recycled plastic jar.
Learn more: Craft Klatch
6. Origami Shark
This paper shark folding craft is a great activity to do with your kids at home or in the classroom. You’ll need blue, red, and white paper and some scissors. Watch the tutorial video and copy the steps with your kids for some folding fun!
Learn more: Craft Zoo
7. Shark Books for Kids
Whether your kid is obsessed with sharks or likes cute and entertaining stories, here is a list of the best shark books for your little swimmers to get absorbed in. Most have fun facts and informative pictures great for reading breaks during school time.
Learn more: Mama Teaches
8. Origami Shark Bookmark
Want to make your own bookmarks with your kids? The shark bookmark craft in itself is a great learning activity for your baby’s little hands to practice using scissors and cutting paper in the correct size and shape for folding the pieces together.
Learn more: Hey, Let’s Make Stuff
9. Shark Water Bead Sensory Bin
This shark week activity will be sure to impress your little one’s friends, letting them play with and ask questions about the different types of sharks. This shark sensory bin needs two things: water beads, plastic shark figures.
Learn more: 3 Dinosaurs
10. A Pair of Shark Socks
Now, this shark art project is a little scary so make sure your kids are ready for some shark bites! You can use any pair of grey or white socks and use red and black markers to color the shark features and its bloody meal.
Learn more: Dollar Store Crafts
11. Chalk Pastel Shark Drawing
Here is an animal craft that teaches kids the basics of portrait drawing and trying to copy an image using chalk. You can look up a shark art tutorial online or find some books about sharks for your little artists to use as reference.
Learn more: Nourishing My Scholar
12. Shark Tooth Party Snack
My mom used to make a variation of this snack when I was young, and it was my favorite. Chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar-coated Bugles, wow oh wow! The shape is similar to an actual shark tooth and the taste is guaranteed to make them all disappear.
Learn more: Kara Carrero
13. Pool Noodle Sharks
This shark week activity is inexpensive and easy to make, just a quick trip to the pool supplies store, some googly eyes, and you’re set! You can cut out teeth from white plastic or paper.
Learn more: Mama Cheaps
14. DIY Shark Binoculars
Shark week is the perfect time to make this shark craft with your little explorers. You can get creative with what you use to make your straps (beads, yarn, ribbon), and the binoculars themselves are made from toilet paper rolls, hot glue, paint, markers, and google eyes.
Learn more: Pink Stripey Socks
15. Shark Play Dough Learning
Here’s a way to educate your kids during shark week about shark anatomy and shapes. Help your little ones mold their play dough into the form of a shark, and teach them the different shapes of the fins and teeth. There is also a recipe to make your own playdough!
Learn more: Left Brain, Craft Brain
16. Marshmallow Shark Treats
This delicious and adorable shark snack is perfect for your next shark week party. You can use melted white chocolate with blue food coloring or melt blue candies to coat your marshmallows, then draw on the mouth using an edible pen and stick on some candy eyes.
Learn more: The Decorated Cookie
17. Newspaper Shark
This shark week activity will get your kids in a crafty mood. You can ask your students to bring in old newspapers to class and help them cut out the pieces to form the shark head, then add the eyes and mouth.
Learn more: I Heart Crafty Things
18. Shark Sensory Bottle
Your kids will love mixing together this sensory goo to put inside their plastic bottles. To make the solution mix blue glitter glue with water, throw in a shark toy, and close the bottle for a portable suspended shark experience.
Learn more: Stir the Wonder
19. Shark Suncatchers
Suncatchers are an amazing decoration for the windows in your house or the classroom. Time for some art with sharks that your kids will love getting creative with. Grab some contact paper, blue tissue paper, and a shark drawing for your kids to trace.
Learn more: Buggy and Buddy
20. Fingerprint Shark Drawing
Now this clever idea will have your little fishy’s fingers covered in paint and their paper covered in scary tiny sharks! Mix some white, black, and grey paint for your kids to stick their fingers in, then once the prints are dry they can add details with a marker.
Learn more: Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
21. Funky Shark Bag
This handmade shark bag is an adorable craft your shark-crazy kids can carry around with them wherever they go! Cut out pieces of felt to make the design and glue them onto a drawstring bag for a DIY outing tote.
Learn more: Pattern Pile
22. Fish Hockey Shark Game
Another fun shark game coming at you! Follow the instructions on how to make a foldable shark out of file folders, cutting boards, and paper. Then glue the pieces together and get some toy fish to hit into the sharks’ mouths!
Learn more: J Daniel4’s Mom
23. Cardboard and Yarn Shark Craft
This fun shark week craft uses motor skills to cut the cardboard and wrap the yarn. Your kids will have a blast covering their shark with blue yarn until it’s a twisty-turny mess of color! Here’s a list of our favorite yarn activities and crafts for kids!
Learn more: Our Kid Things
24. DIY Shark Headband
Shark week is an exciting time to celebrate these amazing ocean animals. Make these cute and colorful shark headbands with your kids by cutting the shapes, gluing them together, and coloring them in. The link provides a free printable for you!
Learn more: Simple Everyday Mom
25. Hama Bead Shark Keychain
Hama beads are a great tool to use for improving kids’ fine motor skills, small crafts where they are building a larger composition help them understand spatial relationships. This tutorial gives you the Hama bead shark pattern for your kids to follow, then all you need to do is iron the design to harden it into an adorable shark keychain!
Learn more: The Inspiration Edit
26. Egg Carton Sharks
These incredible shark crafts recycle egg carton pieces to make a cute little shark toy. You will want to cut the dividing pieces between the holes and glue two of them together to make the shark’s body. Then paint and play!
Learn more: Crafts by Ria
27. Paper Loop Sharks
I think this is one of the easiest kids shark crafts I have come across. A perfect craft for preschoolers because the design uses two pieces of paper, one flat and the other rolled into a tube shape. You can staple the loop to the background and draw on the features!
Learn more: Our Kid Things
28. Coffee Filter Shark Suncatchers
Next in our collection of shark activities are these cute coffee filter tie-dye designs. Have your kids paint their filters with watercolors then let each dry while you help them cut out shark silhouettes. Glue the sharks to the filters and hang them in the window.
Learn more: A Little Pinch of Perfect
29. Sweet Shark Sushi
This shark-inspired sweet treat uses rice crispy treats, shark gummies, and fruit roll-ups to make candy sushi that will kill at your kid’s shark week party!
Learn more: Momma Lew
30. Shark Sugar Cookies
This shark-approved recipe is a basic round sugar cookies for the bottom, blue icing for the water, and grey coated fin piece on top! You can cut out the design for the fins before putting them in the oven to make assembling easy.
Learn more: Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons
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