Tail of the Week: Fish!
It’s oh-fish-ial: We’re going underwater for our Tail of the Week to have some fun with fish!
Some of our favorite books are about fish, from the colorful art of Lois Ehlert’s Fish Eyes to the clever art of Deborah Freedman’s The Story of Fish and Snail. Or try a chapter book like Lilly and Fin: A Mermaid’s Tale by Cornelia Funke. A brand-new book that we tried out in story time today is Too Crowded by Lena Podesta.
Turn your room into an underwater world by making these woven fish with paper!
What you need:
- Paper, any color
- Something round to trace
- White paper
- Markers or crayons
- Scissors
- Optional: paint, yarn or string
What you do:
- Trace a circle on the colored paper and cut it out.
- Use scissors to cut a triangle on one side of the circle. The space left by the triangle is the fish’s open mouth. Save the triangle – it will become the fish’s tail in step #6 below.
- Fold the circle in half – but don’t crease it.
- Cut several slits on the fold. Be careful to stop before you reach the space for the mouth.
- Unfold the circle.
- Glue the triangle piece on the other end of the fish to become the tail.
- Optional: Dip a pencil eraser in paint and make dots on the fish’s body. Let the paint dry.
- Take the piece of white paper and use markers or crayons to color thin stripes on both sides.
- Cut out the stripes.
- Weave the stripes in and out of the slits on the fish. Remember to alternate how the weaving begins: If you start with a strip coming over the top of the fish, then the next strip should come up from the back or underside of the fish. Keep alternating the way the strips are woven until you run out of room. Use your fingers to push each strip as close as possible to the next one.
- Use scissors to trim any parts of the strips that stick out beyond the fish.
- Draw an eye with markers or crayons and draw little marks on the tail fins.
- Optional: Poke a hole near the top of the fish and tie string or yarn to it so that your fish can hang.
Make lots of fish in different colors and sizes. You can even try using different shapes, like an oval. Or get silly and make a rectangle fish! You can even use them like puppets to act out your favorite fish story!
