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Octopuses are some really cool animals that live under the sea! Let’s take a dive into some fun Octopus facts!

  • Octopuses are the correct plural form of the word Octopus and not Octopi.

  • Home for an Octopus is typically on the sea floor, either in a coral reef or on some rocks.

  • Octopuses eat shrimp, lobster, and crabs, and seals and other larger fish have Octopus on their menus.

  • They do a great backstroke by shooting water through a siphon.
  • We say they have 8 arms or tentacles, but they actually have six tentacles that act like arms and two that act like legs.
  • They shoot an ink-like substance to get away from predators, and they are also good at changing color to blend in with their surroundings
  • There are hundreds of different kinds of octopuses, but only one poisonous to humans is the blue-ringed octopus.
  • The suction cups on the underside of their tentacles are used to help grab prey and other things.

Supplies

  • Cupcake Liners
  • Construction Paper
  • Googly Eyes
  • Marker
  • Glue

Directions

Step 1: Cut 8 arms out of construction paper.

Step 2: Curl one end of the arms using a pencil or a pen. Wrap the end of the paper around the pen and roll until about halfway up the length of the paper.

Step 3: Bend the flat ends of the paper up. This makes the arms stick out nicely from the body of the octopus.

Step 4: Glue on the arms of the octopus.

Step 5: Glue the eyes on the octopus.

Step 6: Using a marker, draw on the mouth.

Check Out the Following Books on Octopuses!

Blue Ringed Octopus: Small But Deadly by Natalie Lunis

The Bizarre Life Cycle of an Octopus by Therese Shay

Octopuses by Jaclyn Jaycox

Octopuses: Clever Ocean Creatures by Mara Grunbaum

Octopuses: Strange and Wonderful by Laurence Pringle

The Octopus Scientists by Sy Montgomery