Ocean Animal Coloring Pages

Meet the sea animals

Big animal fans should start with the whale coloring page, a round smiling whale with a spout of water. The shark coloring page has a tall fin and a small toothy grin, and it is more funny than scary. For action, the dolphin leaps clear of the waves on a sunny day.

Softer shapes come next. The jellyfish has a frilly edge and four long tentacles. The octopus has eight curly arms to count. Older kids may like the sea turtle, because its shell is split into shapes that suit patterns.

On the shore, the crab holds up two big claws. There is also a sweet seahorse, and a clean ocean scene that works well for Earth Day.

A coloring page of ocean animals for every age

Match the page to the child, and a coloring page of ocean animals will hold their attention. Toddlers and preschoolers do best with the whale, the jellyfish and the crab. Each has a big body and thick lines, so a chunky crayon works fine.

Kids from five to eight can manage the octopus and the dolphin. Going around the curves takes more control, and that is good practice for writing. They will also start asking questions about real animals, so keep a library book handy.

Tweens can turn the sea turtle shell into a pattern, with a different design in each section. A fine pen and a set of colored pencils will keep them busy for a good while.

Colors for the sea

• Use a light blue for shallow water and a deeper blue near the bottom of the page.
• Leave bubbles white, or give each one a small dot of pale blue.
• Most sea animals are dark on top and pale below, so try that on the shark.
• Make the sand a soft tan, and rub a crayon on its side for a grainy look.
• Seaweed looks best in two greens, one dark and one bright.

Real sea life is full of surprises, so do not hold back. Many reef fish and sea slugs are hot pink, orange or electric blue. A purple octopus is fine. So is a striped crab. Some deep sea animals make their own light, so try a dark page with one glowing jellyfish.

Ocean life lessons

Oceans cover about 70 percent of the Earth's surface, and they hold most of the planet's living space. Most of the deep sea is still unexplored. You can read more about the animals that live there on Wikipedia.

These pages make a neat science lesson. Whales and dolphins are mammals, so they breathe air and feed milk to their young. Sharks are fish. An octopus and a jellyfish have no bones at all, and a crab wears its skeleton on the outside. Ask your class to sort the animals into groups on a chart.

Teachers can also ask students to label the parts of each animal: fin, tail, shell, claw. New words stick this way, and it never feels like a test. Try it once and see how much your class remembers a week later when you bring the pages back out. For a food chain lesson, hang the pages in order from small to large, and draw arrows to show who eats what.

Crafts to make with your pages

Build an ocean on the wall. Tape a long sheet of blue paper at child height, then let kids cut out their animals and glue them on. Add strips of green paper for seaweed and tan paper for the sand. It grows every day. Everyone adds something.

For a mobile, glue each animal to card stock, punch a hole in the top and hang them from a paper plate with string. The animals will drift when the air moves, which suits a jellyfish very well.

You can also turn the sheets into a small book. Staple five pages together, write one fact on each and add a cover with your child's name. Grandparents love it. Kids learn a few facts along the way.

Help protect the ocean

Coloring is a nice way to start a talk about caring for the sea. Plastic trash can harm turtles, whales and seabirds. Ask your child to think of one small change your family can make, such as carrying a water bottle or picking up litter on a beach walk. Write it across the top of a finished page and stick it on the fridge.

Classes can hold a small beach or park clean up after coloring. It does not need to be near the sea, since trash in a storm drain often ends up in a river and then the ocean.

Ocean animal coloring pages for beach days

Heading to the shore? Pack a few pages with a clipboard and a box of crayons. They are handy at a picnic table or during a rainy afternoon at the rental. Look for real crabs and shells on your walk, and compare them with the drawings when you get back.

A trip to an aquarium is another good chance. Print a page for each animal you expect to see, and let your child check them off. Afterward, they can color the ones they liked the most.

More pages to explore

Not every water animal lives in the sea. The axolotl is a freshwater salamander from the lakes near Mexico City, and our page shows it smiling among reeds and bubbles. Find more sea stories in our mermaid coloring pages, or browse the animal coloring pages for land animals. Number fans can try the color by number fish, and the summer coloring pages have plenty of beach scenes.

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