Since I was a little girl turtles have been one of my favorite animals. In fact, my brother and I had a couple as pets growing up. We loved them fiercely and learned so much from them. Now as an adult I am amazed by how resilient and tenacious they are. I have had the opportunity to help conservation efforts release baby sea turtles into the sea and it was an experience I won't ever forget. 

With outings becoming increasingly more difficult and our craft supplies dwindling as we try and keep the hands and minds of our kids busy we thought a craft using somethings that you likely have around the house might be a good place to start. We love the idea of using existing materials so wherever you can use your imagination to add to our Sea Turtle activity. 

Once you have completed your turtles collect them all up and sit down as a family to learn more about Sea Turtles here and how you make a difference by helping keep their environment safe here.

Get creative once these little ones are made. You can have sea turtle races by playing games where you roll a dice to see who moves to the finish line first (add some simple math skills in by having your kids add each roll together). Play a game of 'hide the turtles' and see who can find them all first. Days are long mama don't like the activity end when the craft does. 

Ok, let us do this!

Materials for Egg Carton Turtles

• Empty Egg boxes
• Green Cardboard – I used two shades… light green and a slightly darker green. Don't have cardboard? Don't sweat it. markers and regular paper or inside of cereal boxes or whatever you have on hand will work just fine.
• Pom Poms – I used green ones, but cotton balls would work great too
• Goggly eyes - or markers
• Craft paint - or markers
• Glue
• Printable Sea Turtle underbelly/legs template

Directions for Egg Carton Turtles

1. Cut the egg boxes into individual ‘shells’

2. If using craft paint add 2 or 3 shades of green paint to a pallet and start painting the shells (I Used 3 shades as we were trying to create a somewhat mottled effect on the shells). If using markers choose 2 or 3 green colors and starting coloring!

3. Cut out the underbelly and legs – an older child can do this themselves, younger kids might need a hand. 

Here is a template for you to download! CLICK HERE… there are 2 sizes – as egg box sizes vary.

A turtle has 2 legs and 2 arms – just like a tortoise – only a turtle‘s arms and legs are shaped like paddles to help them swim! They also have a little pointy tail at the back.

This picture below is of a Loggerhead Sea Turtle (photo credit David Mark) – it shows you the paddle-like arms and legs…

3. Next, cut out and paint (or color) your underbelly/legs.

4. Glue the shells to your colored underbellies.

5. Finally, glue on your pom pom or cotton ball head and add small googly eyes!