Create an Underwater World from a DIN A4 Sheet

🎂 6 + years ⏱️ 45 min 📍 Everywhere ⭐ medium

With a simple sheet of paper, you can create a small sea where dolphins swim, jellyfish drift, and crabs scuttle along the seabed. Your underwater world can even stand on its own at the end! While folding and cutting, you'll discover how a flat surface can become three-dimensional. You can experiment with bending the paper waves to make your sea stable. Then you decide who gets to live in it. Maybe you’ll draw a stingray, a school of fish, or another sea creature. Take a closer look at real sea animals: What shapes do their bodies and fins have? Where do they live, on the bottom, among the seaweed, or in open water? This way, you combine crafting with exploring and create your very own underwater world.

What you'll need

1 blue DIN A4 sheet
Paper for the sea creatures
Scissors
Glue
Colored or felt-tip pens
or watercolors

How it works

Place the blue DIN A4 sheet in front of you. Fold it once from short side to short side and press the crease firmly. Now your paper is doubled in front of you.
On the side opposite the closed crease, there are two open paper edges. Fold them about 1–2 cm inward. These small edges will help your underwater world stand later.
Cut several wavy lines into the paper from the closed side. Always stop with the scissors at the bend of the folded edge. Do not cut the waves all the way through, or they will fall out.
Carefully unfold your paper and stand it up on the folded edges. Your paper waves will now appear in the middle. Pull the waves alternately a little forward and backward. Experiment to see when your sea stands best.
Now the inhabitants are moving in! Draw a dolphin, stingray, fish, crab, jellyfish, or seaweed on extra paper. You can use colored pencils, felt-tip pens, or watercolors. Then cut out your animals.
Glue your sea creatures onto different waves. A stingray can hover close to the seabed, fish can swim between the waves, and a jellyfish can drift higher up.
Done? Then take a look at your underwater world from all sides. Maybe there’s even a story in it: Where is the dolphin swimming? What is the crab discovering? Or why is a little fish hiding among the seaweed?