Starfish for Kids -art & literature

Tidepools: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next

Starfish Art...

Starfish for kids - Use the four free starfish patterns below to make tracers for children's art. First, cut out the patterns and trace them on lightweight cardboard.

Then cut out a couple of each of the four different starfish for classroom tracers.

Children can arrange the tracers on their paper with a ball of tape to hold them steady, then trace with a felt marker. Children can then color or paint their picture. Some kids like to embellish their art with sequins and glitter.

Starfish for Kids Art Tips!

Leave small rounds of tape on the table for children to put on the tracers. It holds them steady.
Have children use dark felt markers to trace rather than pencil as their lines will show up more prominently for painting or coloring later on.
Mix a bit of gold glitter in with sandy yellow paint to paint the background. It looks like the bottom of the ocean glittering in the sun.
Omit a few legs from the sunstar tracer if children find it difficult.

Click on the images below to download the starfish for kids tracers.

Starfish for Kids Literature

Literacy center mini-book:

After reading some of the books below and teaching about what starfish can do, make a class chart showing all the actions that a starfish can do such as walk, grow, eat, crawl, grip, suck water, attack. Print the words clearly beside a drawing for each one.

Then have the students make mini books about starfish. Children can add more or less pages according to their abilities. Children print the words from the chart.

Starfish for kids mini-book materials:

Starfish tracer
wallpaper or magazine samples cut larger than tracer

scissors
glue sticks
felt markers
photocopy words on pages and cut for booklet pages (see sample)
precut stiffer paper for booklet covers
stapler

Procedure:

Children choose 3 or 4 pieces of wallpaper and staple them together
Trace starfish on the top of the pile of stapled wallpaper
Cut through all the stack of papers at once (If this is too difficult have children cut out one at a time or ask a parent helper to precut the starfish.)
Children glue one starfish on each page.
Have them apply the glue to the back of the starfish not to the pages or else the book will stick together!

slkfj

Starfish books for kids

	Emergent readers can experience the world of marine biologists in this new underwater series, which includes crab, jellyfish, and starfish. Starfish (Welcome Books: Ocean Life) has full-color photographs and simple text introduce young readers to different plants and animals that live under the sea. Ocean Life discusses underwater habitats, such as coral reefs, and the eating habits of crabs, jellyfish, and starfish.
	Star of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a Starfish With the ocean her home, an ochre sea star hunts for her morning meal. She folds over her rays and grips the rocky shore with sticky feet as she feasts on shellfish. When she takes too long, the tide flows back without her and Sea Star becomes easy prey. She is built to survive and eventually makes her way back to the sea, although with one less ray than before. This inspiring story informs young children about the important role of a small but fascinating sea creature.
	Starfish (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science)
	Starfish, Urchins, and Other Echinoderms (Animal Kingdom Classification) Although this book is at the 9 - 12 reading level, children are fascinated by the images of many types of starfish. They are a good motivation for the starfish art above.
	In One Tidepool: Crabs, Snails, and Salty Tails (Sharing Nature With Children Book) Not exclusively about starfish. A little girl peers into a tidepool and observes the animals living there. The text begins with a wisecracking, unrhymed letter to the Two-Armed Explorer, from a sea star. The book introduces barnacles, fish, anemones, a sponge, snails, crabs, limpets, as well as a sea star. A page of field notes gives brief information about each of the animals, and several bibliographies list other books about the shore, by the author, and by the publisher. Full-bleed, double-page illustrations are bright and detailed, bordering on the surreal in color and pattern. In all, the book is a heartfelt effort, but it is not truly successful as a coherent whole.

Starfish for kids! Toys, samples, and more from Amazon...

Tidepool Pages:

  Tidepools Introduction - what do I teach?
  What lives in a Tidal Pool? How do the organisms eat? Teaching tips
  How do tide pools form?
  Tidepool Field Trips
  Tidepool Books
  Starfish art and literature
  Tidepool Modeling Clay Craft

How to Model Clay Tidepool Animals:
Starfish & Anemone
Crab & Chiton
Limpet & Barnacles

More about teaching with modeling clay and modeling clay products:

Kids Modeling Clay - Basic skills and books about modeling with clay
Types of modeling clay materials with links to purchase