This craft project will show you how to make a game that is fun anytime but also works great for birthday parties.
Items Needed:
- Disposable foam plates (try to find different colors)
- Magnetic stripping
- Magnet
- Scissors
- Craft glue
- Dowel rods
- Yarn or string
- Paint
- Markers or paint pens
- Craft foam
- Tub with water (optional)
Directions:
First, paint the dowel rods if desired, so your “fishing poles” have a chance to dry. Making a different color for each child is a good idea. When dry, tie yarn or string tightly to one end. Two to three foot long pieces of string should be sufficient. Attach a magnet to the other end of the string by tying or gluing it in place (the magnet should not be too heavy).
Next, cut fish shapes from the foam plates. Cut out a picture of a fish and trace it onto plates, or draw your own designs. Decorate with indelible marker or paint pens if desired or make scales, fins, etc. from craft foam and glue them on.
Cut small pieces from the magnetic stripping. If the type you chose has an adhesive backing, remove the paper and stick the strip to a fish, where its mouth should be. If the magnetic stripping doesn’t have adhesive, glue it in place.
Fill a utility tub or small pool with water, and “stock the pond” with your newly created fish, and have children take turns fishing!
Variations:
1) If you aren’t going to use water, you can make fish from paper plates, poster board, or anything else you want, and they can be colored, painted, or decorated with scraps of construction paper.
2) Instead of small pieces of magnet for each fish’s mouth, you can glue on jumbo paper clips, which the magnet will also pick up.
3) Add googly eyes to fish if desired.
4) Throw in some seahorses and sharks too.
5) Blindfold children before they begin fishing to make the game more challenging for bigger kids.