Materials
Newspaper
Paint
Paint cups
Bark paper
Scissors
Twigs
Instructions
1. Ahead of time, cut out starfish shapes from thesandpaper, approximately 7" (17 cm) across.2. Show the children pictures of ocean life.Discuss the variety of creatures that live underthe water.3. Give each child a sandpaper starfish and apiece of construction paper.4. Encourage them to color theirstarfish heavy and dark onthe rough side, coveringthe entire shape. When they aredone, ask them to turn their starfishupside down onto the construction paper.5. Place both sheets onto a thick pad ofnewspaper and press a warm iron on thesandpaper starfish (adult only). Talk with thechildren about what heat does to crayons.6. Encourage the children to addsea life drawings to theirpictures with the markers.Or, for a seaside bulletinboard, mount the sandpaperstarfish onto a beach scene.More to doFine Motor: Provide a variety of other textures for the children to feel and use intheir art projects, such as corduroy, wood scraps, aluminum foil, corrugatedpaper, and cork.Science: Show the children pictures of a variety of starfish and discuss them. Askthe children to count how many arms the starfish have. (Four, six, or more thanthe usual five, are not uncommon.)
