Sea turtles are an endangered species, due to poaching and habitat destruction. All five species found in the sea waters are either endangered of threatened.

Velas, a village in India, is famous for the Olive Ridley sea turtles that visit their beaches to lay eggs every year. The village has a turtle conservation movement, undertaken by villagers – by protecting the eggs. Each year, hundreds of newly hatched turtles take their steps toward the deep blue sea.

The turtle conservation program was started back in 2002 by Vishwas Katdhare. They first discovered a problem back in the 1990’s, when a boat smuggling silver crashed on the beach; most of the silver was recovered, but some bricks were lost at sea. A few years later, said bricks washed ashore, so the beach was closed to the public for a short time. It was then that they had discovered Olive Ridley turtle tracks, then it turned out that villagers were stealing the eggs, grooming them, and selling their meat.

Now, the village hosts the “Velas Turtle Festival.” It is organized every year between February and April. Families volunteer to provide homes for tourist.

During the festival, hundreds of visitors watch turtle hatchlings be released into the sea. They emerge out of their nests and crawl towards the sea. Every year, about 500-700 new turtles are born and sent into the sea.

 

Today’s craft is to make a floating sea turtle out of recycled materials. We found this craft on babiestobookworms.com.

Supplies

  • Scissors or box cutter
  • 1 or 2 liter bottle
  • foam egg carton
  • glue

Directions

  1. Carefully cut the bottom of your bottle (the bumps are part of the turtles shell)
  2. Cut a circle from the foam, slightly bigger than the shell
  3. Attach the plastic shell to the foam with glue, weigh it down until glue dries
  4. Cut four flippers and a head from foam
  5. Attach flippers and head with glue to the underside of the turtle
  6. Once dry, turtle will be able to float

 

Mine and the kids turtle didn’t turn out so well, as you can see below. Don’t forget to tag us on social media if you try this craft.

 

 

 

Our turtle inspired cupcakes turned out way better -chocolate caramel turtles, but still.

They turned out cute and delicious. 😉

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-C

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