Preschool Crafts

5 Jellyfish Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

5 jellyfish crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture and simple steps. Easy ideas for ages 3 to 5 using paper, paint, and glue.

Kindergarten Prep Team
Oct 11, 2026

Tentacles are the most interesting feature of a jellyfish, and ribbon taped under half a paper plate does them better than a crayon. That is the jellyfish craft preschool classes make with dot markers. Here are five jellyfish crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture, the supplies, and the steps.

Jellyfish come up in an ocean week or when the letter J needs a picture. A three-year-old dots the plate and tapes ribbon until there is more ribbon than plate. A five-year-old colors a coffee filter, wets it, and watches the marker bleed.

Start here: three jellyfish crafts that always work

Paper plate jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Paper plate jellyfishDot markers and ribbon, a three can do itCupcake liner jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Cupcake liner jellyfishOne cupcake liner, five minutesCoffee filter jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Coffee filter jellyfishWatch the colors run when it gets wet

5 jellyfish crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

Paper plate jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

1. Paper plate jellyfish

The child decorates half a paper plate with dot markers, adds eyes and tapes on yarn or ribbon tentacles.

Easy for 3sPaint and glue

You need: 1 white paper plate, pink and purple dot markers, pink yarn, 2 large googly eyes, clear tape, glue

How to make it
  1. You cut the plate in half. Place one half with the curved edge at the top.
  2. Your child stamps dots all over it with the dot markers.
  3. Tape yarn pieces behind the straight bottom edge so they hang down as tentacles.
  4. Glue the 2 large googly eyes in the middle.
Bubble wrap jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

2. Bubble wrap jellyfish

The child paints bubble wrap, prints it onto paper as the bell, and adds painted or ribbon tentacles.

Stamping

You need: 1 sheet of light blue construction paper, purple poster paint, half circle of bubble wrap, pieces of ribbon, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Brush purple paint over the bubble wrap half circle.
  2. Your child presses it onto the upper half of the blue paper, flat edge at the bottom, and lifts it. Let it dry.
  3. Glue ribbons along the flat bottom edge of the dome, hanging down.
  4. Glue the 2 googly eyes in the middle of the printed dome.
Coffee filter jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

3. Coffee filter jellyfish

The child colours and wets a coffee filter, then tapes ribbon or streamer tentacles underneath.

Process art

You need: 1 round coffee filter, blue and purple washable markers, water spray bottle, strips of crepe paper streamer, 2 googly eyes, clear tape, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child scribbles all over the coffee filter with the markers.
  2. Spray it with water so the colours bleed together. Let it dry.
  3. Cut the filter in half, curved edge at the top.
  4. Tape streamer strips behind the straight bottom edge so they hang down.
  5. Glue the 2 googly eyes on the front.
Letter J jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

4. Letter J jellyfish

The child covers a J with tissue squares, adds a pom pom bell with eyes on top and wavy paper tentacles.

Cut and glue

You need: white paper, pink paper, pink tissue paper, pink pom poms, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. You cut a large capital J and a half circle from pink paper. Your child glues the J on the white sheet, and the half circle flat side down across the top of the J as the bell.
  2. Your child glues pink tissue squares all over the J.
  3. Glue pom poms along the curve of the bell and the 2 googly eyes in the middle of it.
  4. Cut wavy strips from pink paper and glue them hanging from the bell on both sides of the J as tentacles.
Cupcake liner jellyfish, an easy jellyfish craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

5. Cupcake liner jellyfish

The child glues a flattened or folded cupcake liner on blue paper and draws or glues streamer tentacles below it.

Easy for 3sCut and glue

You need: 1 sheet of blue paper, 1 cupcake liner, crepe streamers, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Flatten the cupcake liner and cut it in half.
  2. Glue it on the blue paper, round side up, as the bell.
  3. Your child glues streamers under the straight edge, hanging down in wavy lines.
  4. Stick the 2 googly eyes on the liner.
Free · 30 questions · about 4 minutes Is your child on track for kindergarten? Answer 30 questions about what your child does today, and you get a report like this one: Every area at a glance: strong, on track, or worth a little time The one or two areas to focus on first Simple things to do at home for each area How many months you have until kindergarten starts Get my child's free report → Example kindergarten readiness report with a bar for each area: language, social-emotional, math, thinking, fine motor and literacy

Jellyfish crafts for 3 year olds

These 2 need no exact cutting and no small pieces, so a young three can do most of it alone: Paper plate jellyfish, Cupcake liner jellyfish.

Jellyfish crafts with a 3 year old: tentacles first

Cut the ribbon and streamer tentacles before you start, in lengths longer than you think. Then the child's job is dot, tape, hang.

A three can do the paper plate jellyfish and the cupcake liner jellyfish start to finish with tape pre-torn. The bubble wrap print and the wet coffee filter need an adult to manage the paint and water.

The letter J jellyfish is the one for the J sound. Say juh, jellyfish as each tissue square goes on.

Tape them to a window so the tentacles hang and move. Several on one window make an ocean, and they travel flat in a school folder.

What you need for jellyfish crafts

Most of these use the same handful of supplies: googly eye, glue, clear tape, white paper plate, pink and purple dot marker, pink yarn, light blue construction paper, purple poster paint. Everything else is named on the craft it belongs to.

Free · 30 questions · about 4 minutes Before you go: see where your child is for kindergarten A report with every area at a glance, what to focus on first, and things to do at home. Get my child's free report →

More crafts for preschoolers
Preschool Crafts

Similar posts