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How to Make Ocean Art for Kids

by The Artful Parent Editorial Team
July 2, 2025
ocean art for kids

Draw an ocean art scene with oil pastels, then paint over the picture with watercolors for beautiful under-the-sea art!

If your child loves the beach, sea creatures, or just the colors of the ocean, this art activity is a perfect summer project.

In this project, kids will draw an underwater or ocean art scene using oil pastels—think fish, waves, coral, sea turtles, or even a shark! Then, they’ll paint over their drawing with watercolors. We love a watercolor resist project because the oil pastels resist the watercolor paint, creating a beautiful layered effect that really makes the artwork pop.

This project is a great one to do over several days or turn into a mixed media project by adding collage pieces to it, too. We had fun adding more and more ocean details with our oil pastels and then covering it all with a beautiful blue-green watercolor wash.

How to Make Ocean Art for Kids

MATERIALS

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Draw your scene

    Use oil pastels or crayons to draw an under-the-sea scene. We added seaweed, fish, jellyfish, sharks and whales.

    ocean art

    If you’d like, you can add more details like coral, sand, rocks, shells, people swimming, ships, submarines, or anything you like.

    ocean drawing

  2. Add paint

    Paint over the drawing with watercolor paints. You can use any color – we mixed green and blue to make some gorgeous turquoise water.

    ocean painting

    Let your painting dry and then hang it up somewhere special!

This ocean art is a fun and easy way for kids to create an underwater world. Every picture turns out different, and the process is just as fun as the finished art!

More Watercolor Art for Kids

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