6 Sea Animal Crochet Patterns You'll Love (From Beginner to Intermediate!)

Written By Huipei Zhang

Crocheting sea animals is the perfect summer project for beach days and poolside crafting. These ocean friends make adorable gifts for kids, nursery décor, or just to add a splash of fun to your collection. Try the dolphin, whale, octopus, jellyfish, turtle, and penguin patterns below — they’re quick, satisfying, and full of personality!

free crochet ocean animals

Table of Contents Show

    Uses for Crochet Sea Animals

    Here are some ideas for why you would want to crochet sea animals, I’m sure you will find many uses for them!

    Gifts

    • Ocean-Inspired Toys for Kids – Perfect for imaginative underwater adventures or bathtime buddies.

    • Unique Handmade Gifts – Great for birthdays, baby showers, or sea-themed celebrations.

    • Educational Aids – Teach little ones about marine life with these soft, hands-on learning tools.

    Home Decor

    • Beachy Nursery Decor – Add coastal charm to a baby’s room with sea creatures on shelves, mobiles, or garlands.

    • Summer & Poolside Accents – Create seasonal displays or table toppers with a splash of handmade cuteness.

    Creative Outlet

    • Relaxing Crochet Projects – Enjoy the soothing rhythm of stitching while making something truly adorable.

    Crochet sea animals aren’t just fun to make—they’re a great way to explore shaping, colors, and textures in your crochet. Whether for play, display, or gifting, these ocean pals bring a touch of handmade magic to any space!

    crochet free ocean animals

    Materials used for Crochet Sea Animals

    Here I will talk about all the recommended yarn, hook sizes, and other materials that work best for these patterns. As for the details on each particular section and how to select the right crochet supplies and narrow down your choices, I will link to an appropriate detailed article for each one when you explore the full pattern itself - I hope it helps! 

    Best Yarn for Crochet Sea Animals  

    • Yarn weight – sport Yarn (I used Scheepjes Catona) or DK Yarn, worsted yarn for bigger projects

    • Yarn colours – depends on animal you intend to make, choosing distinctive colours helps with bringing the animal to life

    • Yarn material – acrylic or cotton are popular choices for amigurumi

    • Read more here about ‘12-point Checklist to Select the Best Yarn for Amigurumi’ 

    choosing best yarn for amigurumi
    crochet hook for amigurumi

    Crochet Hook Selection  

    • Basic cheap metallic hooks to start 

    Crochet Tools and Accessories 

    crochet supplies to start with

    Crochet Techniques for Ocean Animal Amigurumis

    Below I have included the techniques needed to crochet all the sea or ocean animal crochet patterns below. They are great even for beginners, involving the 6 basic crochet stitches and starting with a magic ring. Read on more below for what techniques you need to know before starting, if you have no idea how to do them - go ahead and click through to learn.

    Some of the more ambitious beginner patterns involve special crochet stitches to shape body parts like popcorn stitches and also some colour changes. The penguin wings also involve taller stitches. To see more of each special crochet stitch, click through to find out more.

    Basic Crochet Stitches 

    learn step by step basic crochet stitches
    crochet magic ring

    Magic ring 

    Increase Crochet 

    Decrease Crochet 

    increase in crochet
    decrease in crochet

    FLO and BLO 

    Special Crochet Stitches 

    Bobble Stitch  

    Popcorn Stitch

    Puff Stitch

    Cluster Stitch

    Picot Stitch

    crochet bobble stitches

    Easy Crochet Ocean Animal Patterns

    Here are crochet farm animals patterns to try out, including an octopus, jellyfish, turtle, dolphin, whale and penguin. They are all free and work up in less than an hour and are totally free to click through to read. There are even accompanying videos in each post to show the steps. Also remember to check out the free Animal Shaping Starter Guide if you wish to learn how to crochet your own animals for a start!

    They are listed in order of difficulty so start off with the octopus and jellyfish as those are easier, then move onto the dolphin and whale. Finally the turtle and penguin have slightly more intermediate crochet techniques involved but you can still follow along with the video tutorials!

    Free Crochet Octopus Pattern

    If you have been looking for the easiest pattern to start off with, look no further than this octopus pattern, which has got to be one of my easiest pocket animals to follow along. Just simply make the start of a sphere and end off with some curly cues. There is a sewing option and a no sew option too! Check it out below by clicking on the image or the button.

    Free Crochet Jellyfish Pattern

    This easy crochet fellow can be worked up entirely in one colour, or in alternating colours. The pattern is very similar to the octopus above with slight variations, the tentacles face downwards rather than sideways. The whole animal is made entirely continuously and sure to work up really quickly! Make him into a jellyfish keychain or a jellyfish plush.

    Free Crochet Dolphin Pattern

    Here with some body shaping and adding popcorn stitches as the fins, you get a dolphin! Easy to work up with only minimal colour changes and no attachments at all, they make great quick gifts, for teachers day presents or as mini gifts to loved ones. If you love marine life, after trying this pattern, be sure to try the whale pattern next.

    Free Whale Crochet Pattern

    This is an easy extension from the dolphin pattern because the body structure is almost the same! These whales are basically the dolphin bodies flipped upside down! There are a few colour changes here and there but equally easy to whip up with no sewing involved, making use of the same popcorn stitches for the fins. Finish both the dolphin and whale for a nautical adventure!

    Free Turtle Crochet Pattern

    Here the pattern gets slightly more complicated because of the colour changes involved. The head, body, flippers and shell are made entirely continuously without sewing, which means there is a fair amount of colour changes. He is still very much quick to finish and no sew at all. Made with vibrant colours, he can turn out looking very different!

    Free Penguin Crochet Pattern

    The main body for this penguin is easy to made, mostly a cylinder shape but his wings get a little more complicated with taller stitches extending out from the main body. Finish this little guy to complete the whole sea adventure crew and change up the colours to make him more colourful! Go ahead to click on the image below or the button to see the free pattern.

    If you found this round-up useful and would like others to see it too, do pin either or both of the images below on Pinterest so that more folks can see it! I really appreciate you for doing that!

     
    crochet patterns for sea creatures
     
    crochet ocean animals

    Conclusion of Free Crochet Sea Animal Patterns

    Have a hand at trying out the ocean animal crochet patterns above, to make a full set! Change up the colours so that the animals are distinctive and possibly try making different variations. I will be adding more to the list along the way. These animals are all part of my Pocket Animal Series. If you looking at getting bundles of these patterns, remember to sign up to my email to get great deals. To check out this Sea Animal Pattern Bundle, you can go over here to find it.

    To check out more of my ideas for using various types of crochet stitch techniques to shape amigurumi animals, grab my free Animal Shaping Starter Guide below! Inside, get quick ideas on how to get started on shaping ears, snouts, cheeks, bodies and limbs for animals!

    Huipei Zhang
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    Free Crochet Whale Amigurumi Pattern