Crafting with the Kids: The Fish Game

The kids and I have been doing little crafts here and there every single day since we made their new craft kits. Most of the things we've done have been decorative in nature, and had something to do with letters (for Elliot's sake). But I've been so excited to do some crafts that would also be good games or toys for them to play with! And today, (after picking up the last necessary supply), we were able to make The Fish Game!!!


This is another great inspiration that I found on Pinterest, but I've tweaked it slightly. I started with a blue plastic tub that I found at the dollar store.


I decided to make the fish out of foam, instead of printed cardstock. And, instead of using paperclips at the mouth, I used circle magnets for eyes.


I decided to make 15 fish. To make the shape of each fish, I folded 1 piece of foam in half, and freehand cut out the bottom half of a fish shape. So that when it was unfolded, it would be symmetrical. Then I just used the first fish as a template for the rest. The kids put the magnet eyes on each fish, and I drew on little smiley faces.

For the fishing rods, I had the kids go outside and find their own stick. I cut them each to roughly the same length, and attached another circle magnet with a bit of string. In order to make sure the string didn't fall off, I used a little bit of glue underneath it. Then, in order to differentiate who's fishing poll was who's, and to give a softer handle, I wrapped a couple pipe cleaners around the bottom (also using a little glue to help them from slipping off).


I was a little worried that the foam fish might be too bulky to be picked up by the fishing poll, but low and behold...


The game works, and the kids LOVE playing it!

Here's a breakdown of the supplies I used:
1 plastic blue tub
1 package of 18 circle magnets with self-adhesive backing
Sheets of foam in various colors (as many as you need depending on how many fish you want to make)
2 sticks/twigs or store-bought dowels
Pipe cleaners (if you want to create a soft, colored handle)
String or Twine
Glue

The magnets were somewhere around $3. The blue bin was $1, and the rest of things that were used, I already had around the house or they already had in their craft kits! So, this was definitely a fun and inexpensive craft!! And the fact that I can store it away easily in the blue tub is just a mom-bonus for me!!!

XOXO,
Marcia