Big Blue Squid Bottle Craft and Science

Learn all about squid anatomy and build big blue squids from plastic bottles and bubble wrap!

Big Blue Squid Bottle Craft and Science Activity

What You Need:

Squid Anatomy Poster printables (members only)
Large empty soda bottles
Blue paint
Paintbrushes
Bubble wrap
Blue or white duct tape
Blue streamers
Blue, white, and black craft foam
Glue or tape
Scissors

What you do:

Print, cut out, and assemble the Squid Anatomy Poster. Post it in an area where children can easily view the diagram during circle time. Prepare one “squid body” per child by cutting the tops from large soda bottles and lining the cut edges with blue or white duct tape to protect fingers from the sharp plastic. Recycle the bottle bottoms.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Review the Squid Anatomy poster with children. Provide the following information:

A squid has eight arms, each of which is lined with suction cups.
A squid has two tentacles that it uses to catch prey.
A squid has two clubs at the ends of its tentacles to help with grabbing prey.
The head of a squid is located just above the arms, in the middle of its body.
Within this head, the squid has a sharp beak to tear apart food.
A squid’s body behind the head is called the mantle.
A squid has two fins at the end of the mantle to help it move through water.
A squid pushes water through a siphon located in the lower part of its head, which allows it to thrust itself forward through the water.
A squid has an ink sac so that it can squirt ink into the water when threatened in order to confuse predators.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

As a separate sensory activity, let children paint a large sheet of bubble wrap blue. Once dry, cut the bubble wrap into long, thin strands. Cut 8 strands per child. These strands will be the arms for each squid.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Give each child the top of a plastic bottle with the edge lined with blue duct tape. Let children paint the bottle tops blue.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Give each child two blue streamers cut a bit longer than the bubble wrap strands. Show children how to cut shapes from blue craft foam to make their squids’ clubs. Have them glue the clubs to the ends of their blue streamers to make their squids' tentacles. Then, have children cut circles from the white and black craft foam to make their squids’ eyes.

Preschool Activities:

Media Root

Show children how to tape, staple, or glue (depending on developmental ability) their squids' arms and tentacles around the edges of the blue soda bottle tops. To complete their squids, children glue the eyes to their squids’ heads.