This fun pool float craft is a great boredom busting craft to make with young children during the summer.
Quick and easy to make, this cute summer craft for kids is a great way to have some screen free fun with the kids while they are on holiday.
Pool Float Craft
This adorable pool float craft for kids is one of our favorite craft activities in the summer.
It’s an easy project for teachers during the last weeks of school or for parents at home on a hot summer day when you’re looking for a fun screen free activity. You can even use it as a fun craft idea at a child’s pool party or summer birthday party.
Made with simple materials like a paper plate, washable paint and some colors – this pool float craft is so much fun for children of all ages. So, make sure to add it to your summer bucket list.
Continue reading to get an easy step by step guide to make your very own pool float craft with children.
Related: Fun end of year memory book keepsake craft
Supplies You’ll Need
- Printer and the highest quality cardstock you can find. We love working with this cardstock available from Amazon. It’s are go-to for craft projects and printables. Even at its regular price it’s still cheaper than office supply stores.
- Girl and boy coloring template – the download link for our pool float template in pdf format can be found at the very bottom of this post.
- Small paper plate – we used 6 inch dessert plates. If you don’t have any handy and are looking to order we recommend these paper plates that are available on Amazon. If you’ve got time to head out, check out your local Dollar Tree or Dollar General.
- Scissors – we really love these child safety scissors available from Amazon.
- Acrylic paints – use any color you want, we went with bright pink and yellow. You can buy these paints at your local dollar or craft store.
- Paint brush – we used a small stencil brush. We like using larger brushes when we are crafting with young children because they make for an easy painting experience.
- Colors – you can use wax crayons, markers or coloring pencils.
- Glue stick – we recommend a glue stick but white school glue can work too – just allow extra drying time if you are using liquid white glue
- Stickers, glitter, pom poms (optional) – a fun way to have children decorate their pool floats
How To Make A Pool Float Craft
Cut a large hole in the center of your paper plate. This part of the craft requires adult supervision and some help depending on the child’s age.
Paint the paper plate with your choice of acrylic paint. You may need two coats for best coverage.
We went with bright pink and yellow but you can use any color you’d like.
Set aside your painted paper plate ring and let it air-dry. If you’re in a rush you can put it in a sunny spot outdoors to speed up the drying process.
*Tip – fold the paper plate in half to make cutting out a circle easier.
** You’ll need one paper plate per person.
Print out a copy of our pool float craft template.
Each downloadable template comes with the shape of a girl and boy.
Give children colors, markers and/or wax crayons and let their imagination run wild while they create a bathing suit on their characters.
Cut out the template and glue it to your dry painted paper plate.
Use a glue stick to stick the top of the head, tips of the arms and bottom of the legs to the plate.
Use fun stickers, gems, different shapes of felt, sparkles or pom poms to decorate the diy craft cutout pool float.
We used summer themed stickers to make our unfinished pool float shape look even more summery.
Each child will make their pool float a different way which is why we love this craft so much – kids’ imaginations come up with so many amazing and creative ideas!
Download & Print Instructions
Our pool float craft pdf file comes with 2 stencils – 1 boy and 1 girl template.
These pool float craft templates were created on standard size letter size paper (8.5 x 11).
For best results we highly recommend printing the templates on high quality cardstock paper like this cardstock paper available from Amazon.
To download you’ll need enter your email address in the space provided at the bottom of this post. Once you’ve confirmed your email address you’ll receive free access to the template.
From there, print as many copies as you need.
More Screen Free Activities
Surf board craft – children can make a custom design surfboard using our free printable templates
Mixed media giraffe craft – use leftover craft supplies in small and bigger shapes to make a one of a kind giraffe craft.
End of year memory book – a wonderful keepsake memento kids of all ages will enjoy making.
Summer bucket list craft– a neat craft that helps kids set summer activity goals.
Rocket construction paper craft – work on fine motor while construction a fun rocket out of different pieces of construction paper.
Mermaid coloring pages – color by number worksheets have unlimited uses! print a bunch of copies and have them handy for an easy last minute boredom busting activity.
Tic tac toe printable – people of all ages will enjoy playing this classic game!
Summer crafts – from pool noodle crafts to puffy paint and sidewalk chalk activities, these craft ideas are awesome boredom busters during the summer.
DIY mud kitchens – use old household items to create a DIY mud kitchen for kids to play with and use their imagination.
We hope you enjoyed this pool float craft as much as we did!
It’s such a cute boredom busting screen free activity for kids of all ages during the summer.
Planning to make it? Snap a photo and show us your final product. We love to see how our crafts turn out. Reach out to us on our social media platforms like Facebook to show us!
We may even share your projects with our readers!
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