Primary Fish Pond — A Fast and Easy Favorite!

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Orange and pink illustrated cartoon fish against blue waves.

This simple fishing pond is a favorite amongst our primary kids -- so much so that some of the younger children will cry if not chosen to take a turn fishing. Obviously, that's not the goal... but it is a good indicator the kids enjoy the activity and really want to participate!

I enjoy the fishing pond as well because it's a fast and easy activity (once made) for those weeks I just don't have the time to plan something more intensive and creative. All I need to do is place a blue, plastic dollar store tablecloth on the floor and scatter the fish over it. 

There are several ways you can use the fish for selecting songs. I usually write the name of the songs I want to sing that week on a small piece of paper which I then slide under the paper clip on the back side of the fish. But you could also create a color-coding system, so the fish picked corresponds to a predetermined song, or even a verse or section of a song if you are working on learning/reviewing one.


Colorful illustrated fish previewing free singing time activity download.

FREE DOWNLOAD LINK

This free download link will take you to one of my Google Drive folders where you can access the highlighted resource and download it at high resolution for your own personal use.

What You'll Need to Make This:

  • Popsicle stick
  • Twine or yarn
  • Small magnet
  • Small metal paperclips

Directions:

  1. Download and print the fishing pond PDF file. 
  2. Cut out each fish and laminate for extra durability. (Or you can print on cardstock if you don't have a laminator available to you.)
  3. Slide paperclips over each fish's mouth and secure in place with hot glue, if desired. 
  4. Cut twine to 2-3 feet in length. Glue one end to your popsicle stick and one end to your magnet.
  5. Wrap your twine around the popsicle stick for children to unwind when fishing.

Wrapping the twine or yarn around the popsicle stick and having children twist the stick to lower the magnet prevents kids from throwing the magnet in an attempt to mimic casting a line (and hitting someone!). It also helps create the right length of fishing line based on the various heights of the children. You can speed up the process and save some time by unwinding it a bit before you hand it to them but doing it this way will make sure the line isn't too long for some of the smaller children.

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