Mermaid Activities for Kids

Summer is the perfect time for all activities related to the beach and the ocean, regardless of whether the things you’re learning about are real. Mermaids are a lot of fun and a great way to bring a little ocean-themed fun if you’re headed for a beach vacation or just wishing you were.

This mermaid-themed activity placemat from Rock Your Homeschool would also be fun in the car. It includes coloring, counting bubbles, a word scramble, maze, word search and a tic tac toe board.

Just because it’s mermaid themed doesn’t mean it can’t also be educational. Check out these counting to 10 worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog to do mermaid themed activities including number identification, writing numbers, finding the missing number, I-spy, addition, counting and more.

Grab mermaid color by number coloring pages from This Tiny Blue House to help kids identify numbers while they color. Simply Full of Delight has some more cute mermaid coloring pages, too.

Fun with Mama has a great mermaid activities pack including a mini book, three-part cards, cutting practice, line tracing, puzzles, number cards, trace the letters and a lot more. This will keep kids learning with mermaids for a long time! You can grab it directly from their website or a Teachers Pay Teachers.

Of course we need some mermaid crafts, so make a mermaid paper bag puppet (Messy Little Monster), a cardboard roll mermaid (Ocean Child Crafts) or a paper mermaid crown for kids to color and decorate (Happy Paper Time). And of course we might need some ocean slime; get the recipe from Little Bins for Little Hands.

Or turn your mermaid crafting into a bigger project with this mermaid and fish aquarium from Krokotak (check out their other mermaid crafts here).

Everyone has a huge stash of shells from previous trips to the beach, right? This mermaid shell necklace craft from Moms and Crafters is a great way to use some of them. They can be necklaces, keychain fobs, zipper pulls or you might come up with other uses for them, too.

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Ocean Unit Studies and Activities

The celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is important throughout Mexico and other parts of the world. Her feast day is Dec. 12, and the celebrations honoring her appearance to Juan Diego in 1531 begin a few days before that.

Whether you celebrate yourself or just want to share about the celebration at home or in your classroom, Las Mañanitas: The Beautiful Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a good place to start. The book, by Ernesto Joel Vega Rosales and Jeanette Gonzalez Seneviratne, with illustrations by Dana Sanmar, tells the story of a family’s celebration of the feast day in both English and Spanish.

They prepare with a novena, which is nine days of prayers and preparations. The children, Lucia and Pablo, are given special outfits made by their grandmother that look like what Juan Diego might have worn when he saw Our Lady. The book describes the prayers that are made each day, such as a prayer for respect for life, for families and for the indigenous people of the Americas, to name a few.

As told in the book, Juan Diego was a native Mexican born near modern day Mexico City. His given name was Cuaauhtlatoatzin, which means “He who speaks like an eagle.” When he converted to Christianity his name was changed to Juan Diego, and as he walked to church he passed a hill called Tepeyac. One day he heard the birds singing especially beautifully and a voice called him to go to the top of the hill.

There he saw Our Lady of Guadalupe, who asked him to tell the bishop she wanted a chapel built in her name at the foot of the hill. The bishop asked for a sign that Juan Diego really saw her, and later she had him collect flowers that she blessed and take them to the bishop. When Juan Diego dropped the flowers, an image of Our Lady could be seen on his cloak, which is still on display in her basilica to this day.

The feast day is celebrated as mañanitas, which includes singing, indigenous music and dancing, and children presenting flowers to Our Lady. Juan Diego is remembered today as being humble, brave and faithful, and was the first indigenous American made a saint.

The book is colorful and tells the story in a clear way, and it’s fun to have it both in English and Spanish if you teach Spanish or speak Spanish at home or in the classroom. It’s a great way to learn the basics of the celebration and the story of Juan Diego and why he is still remembered today.

About the book: 40 pages, paperback, published 2024 by Loyola Press. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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