These upcycled crafts are not only cute, they're a great teaching tool about ocean health and sustainability.
Suitable for ages: 2 years and up
Time required: 30 mins
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Related Exhibition: Ghost Nets
A seemingly harmless piece of discarded fishing net, left to drift in the ocean can strangle a sea turtle travelling to its nesting ground. Sharks, fish and other marine life all over the world have also suffered similar fates through entanglement in fishing nets. Those nets are called 'ghost nets' - see how they're turned into beautiful works of art in our exhibition Au Karem Ira Lamar Lu – Ghost Nets of the Ocean.
- Colourful pieces of thong cut into sizes between 5-20cm (according to the size you would like to use)
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Optional - Star fish template
To Make:
Step 1.
Select a piece of colourful thong to use.
Step 2.
Use scissors to cut your thong piece into the size needed for your star fish (between 5-20cm). Why not make a small, medium or large starfish!
Step 3.
Draw the shape of star fish you want to make on a piece of paper. (Or you can draw it straight onto the thong).
Step 4.
If you did your drawing onto a piece of paper, use it as a template to trace onto the piece of thong.
Step 5.
Use scissors to cut out the shape of the star fish on the thong.
Step 6.
Optional Decorations - add patterns to the starfish, or a mouth or eyes.
To add eyes: draw these with a pen, or use marine debris such as fishing weights.
To decorate with colourful rope: glue these on, or sew them on with fishing line and a needle.
Tip:
You could substitute a colourful kitchen sponge for the thong
See how to make some other cute ghost net sea creatures
We’d love to see your creations!
Please send us photos either by email to: web@sea.museum or tag us on Instagram - just tag the photo with our username @sea.museum
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