Directions: Let your imagination take over and create a crown, necklace, ring, or bracelet. String beads, glue feathers, find some sticky foamies and have fun! We used a glue gun for the feathers. This is a great craft to practice patterns!
Here is a fun photo of my daughter and a few friends who helped me create my samples. Notice that mermaids come in all sizes!
Check out this Mermaid Pinterest Board for more mermaid craft ideas and mermaid snack ideas.
And now for some mermaid books! Drumroll please….
Part-time Mermaid by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Cambria Evans celebrates the imagination and imaginative play! Pretending to be mermaids was always a very popular playtime event for my daughters when they were young. The book is told in first person and the reader experiences the adventure of a little girl who becomes a mermaid at night. She pets the otters, explores a sunken pirate ship, and even encounters a sea witch while attending the Midsummer Sea Festival.
How to Meet a Mermaid by Sue Fliess and illustrated by Simona Sanfilippo is a charming book that invites playtime fun. The author takes you through a progression of ideas of how you might meet a mermaid. One of the suggestions is to have a crown she can wear. In the back of the book there are directions for making a mermaid crown (I based my crown and jewelry craft off of this idea). There are also directions for going on a field trip to the beach, and even the suggestion of cleaning up the beach by throwing away any litter you may encounter.
The Ocean Calls– This is a beautiful book by Tinal Cho and illustrated by Jess X Snow. It is the beautiful story of a girl who has a grandmother that shows her how to be a “haenyeo” which is like a treasure-hunting mermaid. The back matter explains and gives quotes from authentic present-day Korean haenyeo divers. The beauty of the artwork drew me in and the story captured my heart. Love this book!
The Little Mermaid-by Jerry Pinkney. Melody wants to explore and find out what is above the surface of the water, and she really wants to be friends with a little girl she spies on the shore. She trades her voice for legs. Don’t you love variations of familiar stories? The stunning artwork will keep you mesmerized for a long time.