Summer Pool Noodle Crafts

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I can’t believe it is half over already. We have been busy with a lot of water play. I wanted to share five simple crafts that I recently made with the kids using pool noodles and minimal supplies to create some new very inexpensive toys to enjoy some summer fun.

These frogs were a cinch to make plus the kids really enjoyed putting them together….and taking them apart. Simple provide your child with cut pool noodles, googly eyes, green straws, and slices of cut up red pool noodle. Alternatively you can use pieces of pink straw for the frog tongues. I found it easier to slice my pool noodle into discs using a knife and cutting board. I also had to use the sharp end of a pair of scissors to poke holes on the sides of the pool noodle pieces for my kids to insert their green straws to create the frog legs. I left the straw cutting to my kids who enjoy seeing all the pieces fly all over when they are cutting. We used these in our water table and sung “Five Little Speckled Frogs” with our toddler. The kids also enjoyed throwing black pom pom “flies” at them.

As it turned out, we found little pumpkin likes to eat big googly eyes so we had to replace googly eyes with adhesive velcro. I use these often when making my kids’ busy books. The fins are just white plastic spoons. I had to precut these for my kids using a pair of good, sharp scissors. The pupils are just pieces of black felt that the kids punched out using a regular hole puncher. No extra adhesive was required as the felt just clings to the velcro. The kids had fun fishing with these and also feeding them worms (cut up pink straws). We also ended up making ten to sing “One, two, three, four, five, once I caught a fish alive…six, seven, eight, nine, ten, then I threw him back again.” My toddler also enjoyed taking the fins out and using them as scoopers for water play.

These octopuses were made by creating spiral cuts to long pieces of green pool noodle using scissors. The kids attached adhesive velcro and hole punched more felt pupils. Though they ended up being pretty large, my kids thought it was neat that they still were able to float just fine. I added a few drops of blue food coloring to the water in their water table, some shells, and “jewels” at the bottom along with some pool noodle sea anemones (see below) and they enjoyed some great free play.

These sea anemones were made by creating vertical cuts into each pool noodle discs leaving about 1/2 inch from the bottom uncut. I then made vertical cuts straight through other pool noodle discs to create “pool noodle fries” and we inserted three into each disc creating the sea anemones. My toddler loved pulling out all the pieces then squishing them back in. These would also make a cute decoration for an under the sea, pirate, or mermaid birthday.

This bin took all of ten minutes to prepare and was an absolute hit with both my toddler and preschooler. They inserted straws in the pool noodles, working on color matching as well as practicing fine motor skills. I also added black bean “seeds” for them to pick up and put in the holes as well. When they were done, they started to take everything apart, crinkling the tissue paper some more, and then stacking the pool noodle pieces to make a red and green tower. It was neat seeing how they turned it into a new activity I hadn’t thought of.

Your child may also enjoy:

Word Family Mermaids

I create more printable activities for kids here with the goal of helping to grow kids who love to learn. I hope you get a chance to make some pool noodle fun with your kids and enjoy a little sunshine too!