Colorful Anemones

Why

Colorful sea anemones look like flowers when their tentacles wave in the water—but looks are deceiving. They are really animals with stinging tentacles that eat fish! Show the underwater action in a neon triarama.

Steps

1. Decorate your triarama. Cut a recycled file folder into a square with Crayola® Scissors. Fold it in half, point to point. Open and fold it in half the other way, point to point. Cut along one fold from the corner to the center of the square. At the cut line, place one triangle on top of the other to see how your triarama will stand up. Unfold.

2. Use Crayola Twistables to color a bright undersea background. Color a seabed on one bottom triangle. Fold the decorated bottom triangle over the plain one. Glue it into place with Crayola School Glue to create your triarama.

3. Add sea creatures. On separate paper, draw and color vibrant sea creatures. Cut out the creatures and glue them to the triarama.

4. Sculpt an anemone. To make a sea anemone, roll Crayola Model Magic into a ball. Slightly flatten the ball. Roll more Model Magic into long, thin ropes. Cut them into pieces. Press the ropes onto the top of the ball to create the wild tentacles of a sea anemone. Glue the sea anemone to your triarama.

5. Draw a clownfish. Draw and color an orange and white striped clownfish. Cut it out. Place the clownfish in its new home, the center of the sea anemone. Try saying anemones really fast, three times!

Safety Guidelines

Adult supervision is required for any arts & crafts project. Observe children closely and intervene as necessary to prevent potential safety problems and ensure appropriate use of arts and crafts materials. Some craft items, particularly beads and buttons, are potential choking hazards for young children. Avoid use of such small parts with children younger than 3 years. Craft items such as scissors, push pins and chenille sticks may have sharp points or edges. Avoid use of materials with sharp points by children younger than 4 years. Read all manufacturers' safety warnings before using arts and craft supplies.

Crayola Modeling Materials including Crayola Model Magic®, and Model Magic Fusion™, Crayola Air-Dry Clay, and Crayola Dough—

  • Keep away from open flames. Do not use to make candleholders, hot plates, trivets, or other similar objects that will be used or placed near fire and other heat sources.
  • Do not put in an oven, microwave, or kiln.
  • Do not make into vessels/containers that will hold unpackaged food.
  • The use of modeling material to make items that look like food is discouraged for children younger than age 5 to avoid their confusion with real food.
  • Unless sealed with a water-resistant glaze, do not make projects exposed to or immersed in water, such as boats or outdoor bird feeders. They would disintegrate when exposed to moisture.
  • Crayola Dough—contains gluten (wheat flour) as an ingredient.
  • Crayola Air-Dry Clay, Crayola Model Magic and Model Magic Fusion are gluten-free. However, they are produced on the same machinery as Crayola Dough which does contain gluten. Although the machines are cleaned prior to the start of each production run, there is a slight possibility that trace amounts of gluten from Crayola Dough may be present in the other modeling compound products. For information regarding specific ingredients or allergic concerns, please call our Consumer Affairs department at 1-800-272-9652 weekdays between 9 AM and 4 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Scissors—ATTENTION: The cutting edges of scissors are sharp and care should be taken whenever cutting or handling. Blunt-tip scissors should be used only by children 4 years and older. Pointed-tip scissors should be used only by children 6 years and older.

Related Crafts

Crafts

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Supplies

crayola supplies
  • Model Magic®
  • Twistables®
  • No-Run School Glue
  • Pointed Tip Scissors
  • Construction Paper
household supplies
  • recycled file folders

Where & When

"Our children made these triaramas as part of a science lesson on carnivores. The colors are brilliant!"
Corrine Y., home-school parent.

"We watched ‘Finding Nemo.’ Afterwards, we made sea anemones and clownfish just like in the movie. What fun!"
Marissa V., teenage babysitter.


Interesting Info

Sea anemones are predatory animals. They are carnivores that feed on fish and other live animals. Clownfish are immune to the stinging tentacles of the sea anemone. In fact, they use the anemone as their home.