At a Glance
This Build a Turtle craft has preschool, kindergarten and other young learners cutting out the pieces and sticking them together to create their very own sea animal friend. The hands-on activity strengthens scissor skills, fine motor control and concentration, while opening up some conversations about turtles and the ocean habitats they call home. Color and black-and-white templates are both included.
If you need a cheerful craft that still sneaks in plenty of skill-building, this Build a Turtle Craft is a lovely one to pop into your plans.
It’s a simple cut and stick activity where your little learners put together their cute turtle by cutting out the parts and sticking them into place.
Whether you’re studying sea creatures, or just want a fun, creative printable craft, this activity is sure to keep your little ones happy from start to finish.
This simple activity is great for developing your child’s cutting and sticking skills, and an awesome chance to practice some pencil control and fine motor skills as well!
And this lovely cut and paste craft is brilliant for young children to use because it’s so simple for them to put together!
There’s a color and a plain template – so your little ones can choose the colors and decorate their little turtle as they wish.
If you’re a teacher, this simple craft could also make an brilliant ocean themed activity for the classroom or a super craft for World Aquatic Animal Day (April 3rd).
Other cut and paste crafts you may want to check out:
Or you can browse all the other printable cut and paste crafts here.
What Skills Can Your Children Learn And Practice?
When making this turtle, your children will have the chance to practice and develop some skills such as:
- Cutting Skills – if you feel they’re ready, you can let them have a go at cutting out the pieces all by themselves – they’ll need to be careful and have good scissor control if they want to cut out the pieces neatly
- Fine Motor Skills – when they’re sticking and picking up and moving the parts and placing them where they need to go
- Pencil Control – if you print off the black and white version they can practice their pencil control and develop hand strength through coloring.
This simple craft will also give them a chance to practice their concentration and perseverance skills as they may find it tricky to place the pieces exactly where they want them to go.
How To Prepare This Simple Turtle Craft
First you’re going to want to download the turtle templates by clicking on the download button at the bottom of the page – I’ve made a color and a black and white version.
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Other materials you’ll need:
- Safety scissors
- Card stock or Craft paper
- Some good glue
- Some coloring pencils or pens or other artsy materials
Once you’ve downloaded the templates, you’ll need to print them off onto paper or card.
Then, you can cut them out. Or if you’d like your children to get some cutting practice, you can let them have a go.
Then you can stick all the pieces together to make the sweet ocean dweller.
It can be really nice to let your kids have a bit of free rein here and see if they can work it out – kind of like a puzzle.
If they’re struggling, the order I’d do it in is:
- Stick the edge to the shell
- Stick the head on
- Stick the front flippers on
- Stick the back flippers on
(I expect you could have worked that out but I do like to be thorough…)
The finished one should look something like this:
If you want to, you could always laminate the pieces before putting them together and use them as a puzzle. That way, the different parts would be kept nice and they can use them again and again.
After that you’re all done!
Let your kids practice their cutting and sticking skills in a simple and fun way!
But Wait… There’s Also A Black And White Turtle Craft for Coloring!
I’ve also made a black and white version which would be an awesome way for your little ones to practice their coloring skills and personalize their turtle in their own way!
So why not crack out the pens, crayons, paints or collage (or all of them if you’re feeling adventurous) and let your kids get creative!
Some Other Ways You Could Use This Turtle Activity
Classroom Display or Bulletin Board:
If you’re a teacher, you use this as part of a ‘Sea Animals’ wall display with each child’s completed craft.
Sensory Turtle Find:
Cut out and laminate the pieces, then hide them in dyed rice, lentils, or shredded paper “seaweed. etc.” Children dig to find a piece at a time and put it together when they have them all. This can turn a simple craft into a sensory discovery activity.
Turtle Team:
Give each child or member of the family one part to decorate. Then build one together. It’s great for a bit of teamwork and turn-taking.
Turtle Relay:
Place pieces at one end of the room and a base page to stick them on at the other. Children walk to collect one piece at a time and return to stick them on. You could extend this by hiding the pieces around or by having one person stick will another gets them.
Storytelling Prompt:
When the turtle is finished, ask: Where is your turtle going? What does it see? What problem does it solve today? etc. This works beautifully for oral storytelling in preschool and early sentence-building in kindergarten and it’s an easy way to weave language development into the craft session.
Habitat Scene:
Get your little ones to stick their turtle onto a plain piece of paper and then draw or collage a habitat behind the turtle. Great link to science as you talk about why turtles might live in certain habitats.
Ocean Animals Theme:
Turtles fit beautifully into a sea animals unit, and tie in really well with World Aquatic Animal Day or World Oceans Day.
However you use it, I hope your little learners have a great time building their turtle!
I’d love to hear about what they create!
And you can check out more awesome animal activities here!
Enjoy and let’s nurture those neurons!
