Uppercase Letter J Craft for Preschool

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If you’ve ever been stung by jellyfish, you know they are not to be taken lightly, but children are still captivated by these squishy, flowing creatures of the sea. Read books about jellyfish and turn the letter J into a jellyfish with this uppercase letter J craft for preschool!

Jellyfish are a fun animal to use for all kinds of learning. Try this calming jellyfish pose for a simple yoga experience kids enjoy. Yoga helps kids relax and release stress before, during, or after learning activities. I love adding a variety of activities like this to our preschool days related to a theme like jellyfish. Themes help bring learning alive!

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Make it a Jellyfish Theme Day

Building a theme for your preschool experience is pretty straightforward. Read a few books, try a yoga pose or two, add some counting or math activities, find an art project online, and of course, complete our jellyfish letter craft. A quick google search will even turn up some pretty awesome jellyfish snacks!

As you introduce each of these activities, you have the perfect opportunity to talk about the sound of J. Have your student practice making the J sound. Ask your child to name some things that start with the letter J. If it is difficult, make some suggestions to get things started.

As you read books, point out the letter J in various words. Throughout your day point out things in your home that start with J. If you go driving, look for signs with words that start with J. You could even make a quick stop at John’s Service Station (for example) just to look at the sign and maybe buy some jellybeans while you are out running errands.

Jellyfish Science

Science and jellyfish go hand-in-hand! Make sure to read a non-fiction book about jellyfish from our list or find one at your local library. Watch a couple of youtube videos featuring jellyfish. You can also try this Jellyfish Science Experiment.

Highlight Your Child’s Name

If your child happens to start with the letter J – play that up! Any time you are working on a letter in your child’s name take advantage of that natural fascination preschool children have about themselves.

These little people are developing an identity and learning about themselves as a person. Every day brings a brand new, first-time experience as they explore the world around them. Names are special, and kids love to figure out how to write and spell their own names.

If your student’s name does not begin with J, don’t forget this trick when the time comes.

Materials for the Uppercase Letter J Craft

In this Jellyfish letter craft, shiny ribbons bring the tentacles to life. Kids love sparkle, don’t they? Gather the supplies you need ahead of time, and grab some sparkly ribbon at the dollar store or wrapping paper aisle at the grocery store to help make this craft extra memorable.

• pink construction paper
• construction paper for the background (color of choice)
• gift wrap ribbon
• tape
• glue
• scissors
• alternative – white paper and crayons

Instructions for the Uppercase Letter J Craft

If you are following along with our weekly letter crafts, you might get tired of hearing me say this, but let your child do the work. It’s so incredibly important I cannot stress this enough. Preschool work is all about the process. There’s a reason formal preschools give children scissors and glue and play dough and expect them to do all the cutting and pasting and sticking.

As your student is making a craft, they are building muscle tone, hand-eye coordination, and maybe even an eye for design. In addition, when you do the work for your child, it sends the message that they are not good enough. Please let your child be good enough and encourage crafting independence.

Now, I do realize you might be dealing with sensory issues, behavioral issues, or developmental delays, so this is not said to shame you! Just be encouraged that your child’s craft project is not supposed to look perfect, and even when it looks completely awful it’s beautiful to them.

In fact, an ugly or scrappy craft project means your preschool child worked very hard on foundational skills. It will be okay. Hard work is something to be proud of! And if you need to do a little bit of the scissor work so they can keep from melting down, that’s okay too. I get it.

1. Trace the cut pieces in the image above using a thick marker. Then have your students follow the directions below. Perfection is not the goal, have your child do the work.
2. Cut out a large uppercase J and the bell of the Jellyfish from the pink paper.
3. Next, cut 4-6 pieces of gift wrap ribbon about 4” long each for the jellyfish tentacles. 
4. Then glue down the J in the middle of the paper.
5. Next, glue down the bell on the top of the J.
6. Then tape down the strips of gift wrap ribbon at the bottom of the Jellyfish bell.
7. For safety, please ensure that a grown-up completes this final step. Curl the ends of the tentacles with scissors.