Easy Fish Crafts
Fish crafts can provide a fun activity for the whole family. The vibrant colors found on these aquatic creatures will surely brighten any room in which you display your fish. Use simple materials found around the house to create hanging ornaments and pictures of these ocean dwellers-also a craft inexpensive enough to use as classroom projects.
CD Fish
Create hanging fish trinkets or ornaments using CDs, which provide just the right size for the body of the fish; you just need to add a few simple materials to finish the aquatic design. Rather than purchasing new CDs for this project, use old, scratched or faded discs, any of which will work just as well.
First paint both sides of the CD in your chosen color for your fish. Use bright and vibrant colors that mimic the tropical fish living in the ocean, for example. Make a double-sided head and tail by cutting simple shapes out of construction paper. Attach the head to the rim of the CD, and at the opposite side of the CD place the tail. Make your design as detailed as you like, painting strips, gills and even colored polka dots on your fish. Do the same design on both sides, however, as you will eventually hang this craft so it can turn freely. Slip a ribbon in a complimentary color to that of your fish through the hole in the CD for a hanger.
Paper Plate Fish
Put together a fish using a paper plate-a project that works well for classrooms due to the materials' cheapness and easy availability. This simple construction gives the kids a fish they can color or decorate with an appliqué any way they choose. Start by cutting a "V" out of one quarter of the paper plate, just as you would a piece of pie. The area you cut will act as the open mouth of the fish. Paste the piece you cut onto the opposite end of the plate as the tail.
Have the children color this fish with crayons or paints, and ask them to paste gills made from small pieces of construction paper onto their fish. Design the fish with with stickers, beads, pieces of macaroni or anything else you have access to in your classroom or at home.
Papier-Mâché Fish
Create small blowfish by applying papier-mâché onto balloons blown up to the size of a softball. Cover the balloon with strips of newspaper soaked in the papier-mâché material, keeping its roundness. Before the papier-mâché dries, put a small loop of ribbon on top of the fish and papier-mâché it in. This will become the hanger for this fish. Let the papier-mâché dry overnight.
The next day, paint the fish a solid color, then go back over it and add the details once the first coat dries. Paint a small red circle for the mouth, and two smaller circles for the eyes. Paint small fins up against the body on both sides of the fish. Add this fish to the decor of the bathroom, family room or kitchen by hanging it in front of the window. Make a few in different sizes if you want a family of fish to hang.
