Preschool Crafts

3 Turtle Crafts for Preschoolers (Easy Ideas)

3 turtle 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

A turtle shell is a round space that asks to be filled, and a paper plate is the same shape. So the paper plate sea turtle is the turtle craft preschool classes make most. Here are three turtle crafts for preschoolers, each with a picture, the supplies, and the steps.

Turtles fit an ocean week, a pond week, or the day after the aquarium. A three-year-old paints an egg carton cup green and glues on a head. A five-year-old weaves paper strips over and under through the shell slits.

Start here: three turtle crafts that always work

Egg carton turtle, an easy turtle craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Egg carton turtleOne egg cup, green paint, donePaper plate sea turtle, an easy turtle craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Paper plate sea turtleThe classic paper plate shellPaper weaving sea turtle, an easy turtle craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5Paper weaving sea turtleOver and under, for a five

3 turtle crafts for preschoolers, with pictures

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

1. Paper plate sea turtle

The child paints or tissue-covers a paper plate shell and glues on a paper head, flippers and tail.

Paint and glue

You need: 1 small paper plate, green paint, light green and yellow tissue paper, green construction paper, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Your child paints the plate green. Let it dry.
  2. Tear small tissue squares and glue them over the middle as the shell pattern.
  3. Cut from green paper 1 head, 2 long flippers, 2 short flippers and 1 pointed tail.
  4. Turn the plate over. Glue the head under the top rim, the long flippers under the upper sides, the short flippers lower down and the tail under the bottom rim.
  5. Glue 2 googly eyes on the head.
Paper weaving sea turtle, an easy turtle craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

2. Paper weaving sea turtle

The child weaves coloured paper strips over and under through slits in a turtle shell.

Threading

You need: green paper, yellow paper strips, 2 googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Cut a turtle from green paper in one piece: a big round shell, a head, 4 flippers and a tail.
  2. Cut slits across the shell.
  3. Your child weaves the first yellow strip sideways through the slits, over and under.
  4. Weave the next strips one below the other, starting opposite to the one above. Glue the ends down.
  5. Glue 2 googly eyes on the head.
Egg carton turtle, an easy turtle craft for preschoolers ages 3 to 5

3. Egg carton turtle

The child paints an egg carton cup green as the shell and glues it onto a paper or foam turtle body.

Build it

You need: 1 egg carton cup, dark green paint, light green paper, 2 self-adhesive googly eyes, glue

How to make it
  1. Cut one cup from the egg carton and leave a little flat rim around it.
  2. Your child paints the cup dark green. Let it dry.
  3. Cut a turtle body from light green paper in one piece: a round head, 4 stubby legs and a small pointed tail.
  4. Glue the cup upside down in the middle of the body.
  5. Your child presses the 2 googly eyes onto the head.
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

Turtle crafts: shells, weaving and a 3 year old

Green paint on a plate or an egg carton cup is the only mess. Paint on a tray, dry, then glue the head and flippers on dry paper.

A three can paint and glue on pre-cut flippers. Weaving needs a five, and even then an adult cuts the slits in the shell and starts the first strip.

Say over, under out loud on the weaving turtle. It is the first pattern most children learn with their hands, and it carries into lacing later.

The paper plate turtle goes on a wall ocean with the fish. The egg carton turtle sits on a shelf. The woven shell shows up well on a window.

What you need for turtle crafts

Most of these use the same handful of supplies: glue, googly eye, paper plate, green paint, light green and yellow tissue paper, green construction paper, green paper, yellow paper strip. 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 →

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