Teach your preschooler about sharing and kindness through The Rainbow Fish book, and follow it up with a fun and easy paper Rainbow Fish craft!
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is a classic book for preschoolers. It is a simple story about a beautiful fish who learns that the value of friendship far outweighs his glittery scales.
As a mom, we are always trying to teach our kids important values and morals that will guide them in life. For younger kids like preschoolers and kindergarteners, the best way to convey that inside beauty is more important than outside is through a fantastic tale like The Rainbow Fish.
This adorable paper Rainbow Fish craft is inspired by the main character of the children’s book. Your kids can explore their creativity and choose what color scales they would like to go on their fish craft.
How to Make a Rainbow Fish Craft
Supplies:
- Free Paper Rainbow Fish Craft Template
- Colored construction paper
- Glue stick
- Sharpie or black marker
- Pencil
- Scissors
Instructions:
1.. Select colored construction papers for the Rainbow Fish craft. We decided to imitate the fish in the book and went with purple, pink, mint, blue and glossy silver papers for this craft.
Print out and cut out all the template patterns. Trace the body, face, and large and small fins on blue colored construction paper, trace the thin leaf-shaped patterns on silver paper, the scales on different colored papers, the lip on orange paper, and the 2 other fins on mint and purple papers. Use scissors to cut out the traced patterns.
2. Glue the silver leaf-shaped cutouts on the fins and tail as pictured below. Glue the lip on the face cutout.
3. Grab the scale cutouts and attach them to the body cutout. Start from near the tail with the round edges towards the tail. The scales should be overlapping a little.
4. Continue to glue the scale cutouts in rows.
5. Keep gluing the scale cutouts until there is only room for the face at the front part of the body cutout.
6. Attach the face cutout to the front side of the body cutout, partially covering the last row of scales. Trim the sides of the scales if necessary to align them with the body pattern.
7. Attach the large fin on the top side of the body cutout and the thin large fin to the bottom side. If you haven’t glued the scales down and can fit the fins underneath the scales, you can attach the fins there. Otherwise, glue the fins to the back of the body cutout.
8. Attach the rest of the fins and the eye to complete the craft. Use black marker to draw the eyebrow and details on the face.
If you want to use the Rainbow Fish craft to demonstrate how the fish learned to share by taking off its shiny scales, you can insert the silver scales in between the other scales instead of gluing them on the body cutout. This way, as you read the book, you can take the scales off as the fish gives the glittery scales to his friends.
You can simply fill out the form below to get the Rainbow Fish craft template delivered right to your inbox!
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