This jellyfish art project is so fun and colorful! Kids will love using chalk pastels to create this unique ocean art. We used chalk pastels on black paper which really makes the colors pop.

Pastels are so fun for kids to explore! Take a look at my collection of chalk pastel art for more creative ideas kids will love.

This is a great project for kids to use their creativity and design their own jellyfish using different colors and shapes. Have kids look at some jellyfish photos before starting to get an idea of the many different shapes and colors of jellyfish.

There are some amazing and fascinating species of jellyfish! Of course, they can always create their own shape and use any colors they like, this will just help as a jumping-off point to get their creativity going.

Tips for working with chalk pastels

Chalk pastels can be messy (but so fun!). There are a few things you can do to help keep some of the mess contained:

• Put newspaper down on desks or tables
• Put your project on a tray or a shallow cardboard box which will keep most of the mess inside the tray 
• You can try doing your project outside 
• Have lots of paper towels handy 
• Once you are done with your project (or even halfway through if it gets really dusty), take it outside to gently blow or shake off the excess dust
• If you are using chalk pastels in the classroom and the kids are ready to take their artwork home, simply place the art between some newspaper to keep it from smudging and for easy transport.

Create your own jellyfish art project

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Supplies

• Chalk pastels
• Black drawing paper or black pastel paper
• Plastic lids to use a template
• Paper towels
• White pencil crayon
• Blending tool (optional)

Instructions for your chalk pastel jellyfish

1. First, have kids draw out their jellyfish on black paper using a white pencil crayon. We used black drawing paper for this project.

Take a look at some jellyfish photos beforehand so kids can get an idea of the shape of jellyfish they want to draw.

Use two different sizes of plastic lids as a template to draw the bubbles.

2. Choose two to three chalk pastel colors to start with and outline the top part of the jellyfish using one color. Blend it slightly with your fingers or a blending stick to give a “glowy” look to the jellyfish.

Add in one or two more colors to add some detail, blending as you go. Remind kids not to blend too much, a little blending goes a long way.

Take a look at these 5 essential chalk pastel techniques for more details on blending pastels.

3. Have kids choose colors for the tentacles. Kids can choose to use a lot of colors to create a super colorful jellyfish, or stick to two or three colors.

Draw the tentacles with chalk pastels, drawing some wavy lines, and some squiggly lines so there is a bit of variety. Soften some of the lines up by using your finger to gently smudge.

Make a couple of the tentacles thicker like in the example below.

Finally, to finish off the jellyfish, use white chalk pastel to create a couple of tentacles with dotted lines.   

4. For the bubbles, choose two colors. A light color and a bright or medium shade. We used blue and purple bubbles for the examples and they both look great!

With your brighter color, trace around a bubble drawing and gently blend the color in to soften up the line. Add in a highlight with the lighter color.

Kids can also choose to color in their bubbles completely like the purple bubbles in the example below.   

5. If you don’t want to add in any background color, your jellyfish art is complete! Having the bubbles floating around the jellyfish is all you need.

Some kids however, might want to color in some blue for the background. You can add as much or as little background color as you like.

Take your pastel color and color in your background and then use your finger to blend and soften things up. Remind kids to go slowly with this last step and to be careful when coloring and blending around the bubbles and jellyfish.   

This jellyfish art is so fun and colorful. Kids will love to design and create their own style of jellyfish with chalk pastels!

More chalk pastel art kids will love

Create Stunning Chalk Pastel Sunsets with Kids

Awesome Galaxy Chalk Pastel Art Project

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