hand sewn jellyfish craft

Today we’re sharing a super cute hand sewn jellyfish craft for kids.

You could use our printable template sew a big jellyfish cushion, a smaller jellyfish softie toy or a mini little baby jellyfish. Or all three, because we all know that more jellyfish together would have more fun!

As a special extra, we’ve even included a box jellyfish from Northern Australia.

I can’t believe it’s already the tail end of July. Do you know what that means? It’s Sew a softie time!

Sew a Softie is an initiative organised by Trixi of Coloured Buttons, with the aim of getting kids around the world learning to sew. It’s so much fun, and has gathered quite a following with tons of bloggers and crafters worldwide along with loads of organised kids groups participating.

We’ve joined in with Sew A Softie before with our felt dinosaurs, sweetheart bookmarks and our happy pear ornaments.

This time around we’ve been inspired by our recent trip to Tropical North Queensland to make a jellyfish. Of course, the most notorious jellyfish in that region is the deadly box jellyfish which was thankfully not present in the ocean at the time of year we visited.

Before we get started let’s have a think about just how incredible jellyfish are. Here’s a few fun facts to talk about whilst you sew the softie.

Fun Jellyfish facts for kids

• Jellyfish can clone themselves. When they are injured and split in half each half can reproduce the missing half, creating two whole jellyfish.
• Some jellyfish are bioluminescent, meaning they produce their own light and glow in the dark
• Their transparent body acts as camouflage, enabling them to hide from prey
• Jellyfish have been around for approximately 650 million years – that’s even before the dinosaurs!
• The box jellyfish, found in northern Australian and Indo-Pacific waters has the most toxic venom of any creature on earth. If you happen to get stung by a box jellyfish, chances are you will die even before you reach the shore
• Most jellyfish have no eyes, no brain, no bones and no heart. The box jellyfish, however has 24 eyes and scientists can’t figure out how they are able to see using them with no central nervous system to pass on messages to a brain they don’t have. Mysterious indeed.
• Jellyfish never sting people intentionally, it’s always by accident
• Turtles love to eat jellyfish and are immune to their stingers
• There are 2000 known species of jellyfish, but scientists estimate there may be another 300,000 species undiscovered

And now, onto the craft…

How to sew a jellyfish craft

You will need:

• Felt in the size of the jellyfish you wish to sew (we use ordinary felt pieces from the craft store)
• Additional felt scraps for the facial features
• Needle and needle threader
• Embroidery thread
• Tacky craft glue or fabric glue
• Ribbon
• Stuffing
• Scissors

How to:

Print out the template and select the size you wish to make. 

Pin the body to two pieces of felt and cut them out.

Hold the facial features over a piece of felt scrap and cut out the shapes (they are too small and fiddly to pin). You could alternatively design your own face.

Cut the ribbon into 6-10 strands (depending on the width of your ribbon and the width of your jellyfish). Sew them onto the base of one of the body pieces.

Place the second body piece on top of the one with the ribbon sewn on and sew most of the way around using running stitch. 

When you have a small gap left fill it with stuffing, then sew closed.

Glue the facial features on.

And that’s all there is to it!

Of course, you’ve probably had so much fun making the first jellyfish you’ll want to make another one.

Here’s our box jellyfish (Ok so I designed this craft before I discovered that they have 24 eyes! You could always modify your own version).

Check out a few more softie’s from this series like these cute cookies by Creating Creatives, this scrap-eating monster by My Poppet and this Very Hungry Caterpillar by Oh Creative Day.

More ocean animal craft ideas for kids

• Here are 14 paper plate ocean animal templates, complete with fun facts so kids can learn about the animals as they make them
• This egg carton goldfish is just the cutest!
• Our paper roll fish has always been popular
• Make a paper roll seahorse puppet