MINI MONDAY: HANDPRINT FISH PUPPETS

Fill the ocean blue with some of your own personal flair with this handprint fish puppet! Once you’re done, put on a show and create your own amazing aquatic tales!

Materials

• Cardstock or Construction Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Popsicle Sticks
• Markers
• Tissue Paper
• Glue

Directions:

• Ask your child to place their hand on a piece of cardstock or construction paper. Make sure that their fingers are spread out. Use a pencil to trace around their hand
• Once they remove their hand from the paper, ask them to cut along the lines to cut out the shape of their hand
• The palm of your child’s hand forms the head of the fish! Use the markers to colour in the fish and add features like eyes and a mouth
• Grab some tissue paper and let your little one practice their fine motor skills by tearing or cutting the tissue paper into smaller pieces. Crumple the smaller pieces into balls or lay them flat, and use glue to attach them onto the fish. Allow your fish some time to dry
• Once your fish is dry, flip it over and attach the popsicle stick to the back with glue. Allow this some time to dry
• Once everything is dry, put on a fish puppet show!

Keep the fun and learning going! Can you…

• Create a backdrop so your fish can float through a delightful ocean scene?
• Create a whole cast of fishy characters?
• Come up with a story for your fishy friends? What should they do? Where should they go?

ESSENTIAL LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are developed when children learn to use their smaller muscles, like the ones in their hands, fingers, and wrists. Fine motor skills are used for everything from picking up a utensil to eat, buttoning clothing, and holding a pencil when learning to write.

This craft helps to support the development of fine motor skills by inviting children to use their smaller muscles to manipulate the scissors, tear the tissue paper, and apply them to their fish puppet!

Dramatic Play

Dramatic play gives children the opportunity to step into someone else’s shoes and role-play a specific type of experience. Dramatic play helps to foster creativity, social skills, and language development.

This week’s craft helps to support dramatic play by encouraging children to use their completed pupped to create their own underwater tales!

Stay tuned for more resources to help spark kids’ creative learning!

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