DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Salty the Fish Craft

Yep, it's decorated with real salt!

While making the craft you can sing some songs to go with it.
 

Materials:

• paper (we used white paper, but in retrospect, blue construction paper would have been nicer)
• printer
   
• salt
• tempra paint powder or colored drink crystals
  (2 colors -- or if you're using blue construction paper, one color will work).
   
• aluminum foil
• glue,
• Optional:  paint brush
• Optional:  thin cardboard (old cereal box)
   

Instructions:

• Print out the template.  We used white paper, but blue construction paper would have been nicer.
   
• OPTIONAL:  You can mount the template on a thin piece of cardboard.  This will help prevent the salt from cracking off the picture when dry (if you'll be carrying it around a lot the paper will fold/flop around and the salt will crack off -- the cardboard helps keep the picture flat).  If you're just planning to hang it up right away, you can leave this step out.
   
• Pour about 1/4 cup of salt (doesn't need to be exact) into each bowl.
   
• Ask the children where fish live (you'll get answers like water, the sea, the ocean, the fishbowl, etc).
   
• Tell the children that Salty the Fish lives in the water in the ocean.
   
• Let the kids have a small drink of water (optional).  Ask if anyone can guess what's different about the water that Salty lives in.
   
• Have the children wet the end of their finger slightly and dip it in one of the bowls of salt.  Have them taste the salt from their finger.  Tell the children that the water Salty lives in is full of salt.  Would they like to live in salt water?  Drink salt water?
   
• Mix about 1/2 tsp of tempra paint powder in with each bowl of salt (different colors in each bowl).  
  • If you only have one color and are using blue construction paper, you can leave one of the bowls of salt white.
  • If you don't have tempra paint powder, use colored drink crystals to color your salt.  For children 5+, you can let them taste the drink crystals before mixing and ask them to compare it to the taste of the salt.
     
• Using a paintbrush or fingers, have the children spread glue in the fins and mouth of the Salty template.  
  • Age 3 children may need a bit of guidance with this.
  • It doesn't have to be perfect!
  • We used orange for this step -- make sure you ask the kids what color they are working with to reinforce color names.
     
• Have the children spoon the colored salt onto the fins and mouth.  This is easy for the children to do.
   
• Lift the paper and GENTLY tap the excess salt back into the bowl.
   
• Have the children spread glue on Salty's body.
   
  • We used purple for this step.
     
• Have the children spoon the other color of salt onto the body.  Try not to get TOO much on the fins.
   
• Lift the paper and GENTLY tap the excess salt back into the bowl.
   
• Tear Aluminum foil into 1 inch squares (this doesn't need to be exact).
   
• Scrunch the Aluminum foil into balls.
   
• Draw a glue line along the thin lines beside salty the fish (this is good coordination practice for the kids).
   
• Place the balls along the lines (bubbles).
   
• OPTIONAL:  Add a few balls coming up from salty's mouth.
   

Template for black and white printer

 

 

Print friendly version of these instructions

 

---

Books to read with this craft:

Fish Faces by Norbert Wu  (non-fiction)

The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole

Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Sea Shapes by Suse MacDonald