Seahorse Craft for Kids with Lacing Practice

We read Eric Carle’s book, Mister Seahorse, this week and decided we had to make a Seahorse Craft to accompany the book! We were also inspired by the shoe tying practice available from the version we saw at Making Learning Fun. 

It’s my goal for my preschooler to tie his shoes before Kindergarten, so this was the perfect lacing practice opportunity. The lacing is also a great preschool activity for working on strengthening fine motor skills.

The unique marbled paint effect on our seahorse craft turned out beautifully. While others may have heard of or tried this painting technique before, this was my first time combining paint and shaving cream to create the marbled effect. And let me tell you, I am hooked!

My son really enjoyed mixing the paint and shaving cream and I really loved the look of the finished product. The marbled painting technique on a seahorse makes for a perfect ocean craft for kids!

How to make a Marbled Mister Seahorse Craft

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Supplies Needed to Make your Seahorse

• Seahorse template HERE
• Scissors
• Shaving cream
• Acrylic paint (variety of colors)
• Container for mixing the shaving cream and paint (must be large enough to press the sea horse into)
• Rubber spatula or spoon
• Squeegee
• Black marker
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Googly eye (optional)

Instructions for the Marbled Painting Technique

1. Start by printing the free seahorse pattern on cardstock and have your child cut it out. (The heavier paper is necessary due to the painting technique.)

2. Squirt some shaving cream into your container, enough to fill the bottom. Use a spoon, or a rubber spatula if you have it, to spread the shaving cream evenly across the bottom of your container.

3. Add lines of various colors of acrylic paint to the top of the shaving cream and use a toothpick or the end of spoon to swirl the colors around. You can see how mine looked after swirling in the picture below. 

Edited to add: While I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the process that time, if you want more examples and instructions, you can look at how I replicated the marbled painting process later when we made Marbled Planet Art!

4. Gently press your seahorse down into the paint, making sure every part of the paper is touching the shaving cream. After leaving it there for several seconds, lift it out carefully. 

5. Lay your sea animal down to dry for a couple minutes. Use a squeegee to remove the excess shaving cream from your seahorse craft.

Related: Colorful Jellyfish Craft

6. Let it dry completely. I used a black marker to redraw the fin as it got covered up by the paint. I couldn’t see the lines anymore, so I just had to wing it.

Instructions for Lacing Practice

7. Use a hole punch to punch holes around the seahorse’s head to add his hair. The pattern has premade places to punch the holes, but again, you might not be able to see them after painting. Just do your best to punch holes evenly along the outside edge of the seahorse’s head.

8. Cut some pieces of yarn for your child to pull through the holes and tie a knot. If your child isn’t ready to tie the knots yet, even the act of lacing the yarn through the holes is great for fine motor practice. If the yarn pieces become uneven while they are working, you can trim the yarn evenly after they are done with tying the knots.

9. After your Mister Seahorse has hair, glue on one googly eye, if desired. Another option is to hand draw an eye with a black marker. Either way, when you are finished, you will have a beautiful ocean creature you can be proud of!

We really enjoyed the marbled painting method and will definitely be using it again! Have you tried it before? Do you have a favorite painting or crafting technique? Comment below!

Related: 25 Creative Ocean Crafts

More ideas of ways you can decorate your seahorse craft with the free printable