Golden Jellyfish Art Project

Use wax paper, sugar, watercolor paint, and glue to create this mixed media Golden Jellyfish Art Project. Below are a few student examples, a supply list, and a video tutorial to get you going.

This project was part of Green Mountain Area Homeschoolers’ Annual Summer Art Day. The display – “Travelers” – is currently up at Belmar Library in Lakewood, Colorado. We were inspired this year by some unusual animal travelers from around the world, including Golden Jellyfish.

Golden Jellyfish of Palau

Unlike most jellyfish, Golden Jellyfish don’t travel with ocean currents.  Instead, they follow the arc of the sun each day as they travel back and forth across Jellyfish Lake, a saltwater lake on Eil Malk Island in Palau. They are, in fact, completely golden colored. We exercised some creative license though and made them whatever color we liked.

Supplies Needed

• Cardstock for background (we used varying shades of blue, although the darkest shades look almost black in the photos)
• Wax paper
• Watercolor paint
• Glue
• Brushes for paint and glue
• Paper bowls (one for each jellyfish)
• White granulated sugar
• Food coloring
• Resealable sandwich bags

Prep

• Jellyfish Body: Cut paper bowls in half, leaving tab in middle. Refer to video to see a paper bowl that’s been cut.
• Background ‘Lake Water’: Put sugar in a sandwich-sized plastic bag. Add some food coloring, seal bag, and mush it around to color the sugar. The amount of sugar you use will depend on how many jellyfish backgrounds you’re making. I used about 1/2 teaspoon food coloring for each 1/2 cup sugar, but you can vary that depending on how intense you want the color of your sugar. Make several colors if you like – blue, green, purple, etc. Spread the colored sugar out on plates or pans to dry. Dry time is about 15 minutes.

Video Tutorial

I hope you enjoy making this Golden Jellyfish Art Project! Feel free to borrow elements from this project and use them for other artistic pursuits. I’d love to hear about what you create.

P.S. Colored sand is another option to add texture to your artwork. Instructions for coloring sand can be found in my post on Pastel Chalk Drawings with Homemade Colored Sand.