Creativity 521 #37 - Let's go fishing!

What do you like to do on a rainy Sunday? Much as I wish I could sleep in, watch TV or just bum around, the fact is that the kids get somewhat bored and I need to find inspiration from time to time on how to keep them occupied and happy.

For Creativity 521 today, I am sharing with you about the very straightforward, easy-to-make FISHING GAME that I did for Ariel's Under the Sea party. Other than being a fun party game, it can help to keep the kids entertained at home too!

The best thing is, all of it can be done in under an hour. Woohoo!

Materials:

1) Coloured printouts of sea creatures (I used photo paper)
2) Magnets ($2 for a pack of 8 from Daiso)
3) Metal binder clips
4) Super glue (I used instant glue from Daiso which sells 4 in a pack for $2)
5) Thin long sticks (3 for $2 from Daiso, don't you just love Daiso? :p)
6) Scissors
6) String
7) Optional: Ribbon

Firstly, search for clip art pictures of sea creatures, print on photo paper and cut them out neatly. The lobster antennae or sting ray tail might be a tad challenging to cut but try to have as little white space as possible.  

It would be more logical to place metal clips on each of the animals and use a magnet for the rod. However, since I had plenty of mini magnets lying around, I decided to do it the other way round. That is, one magnet on every fish and a metal clip on the rod instead. Just so you know, these magnets from Daiso might be small but they are super strong! This makes it easier for smaller kids to fish but make sure they are not too violent in detaching the clip from the magnet.

I used the instant super glue to secure a magnet on each of the sea creatures after Angel helped me to decide where it should be. On the dolphin's eye, a nose for the octopus, on the puffer fish's mouth and so on.

Once the sea creatures were done, it was time to do up the fishing rod. All I did was to decorate the stick by wrapping it with blue ribbon paper, tied a string near the end and attached a metal binder clip by tying to the other side of the string. Use only thin sticks for the rods so that they will wobble and bend like real fishing rods, a thick stick will lessen the fun.

Wait, that's it? Yes!! Spread a blue cloth for the ocean, toss the fishes all around and you are all ready to fish!!

This has been proven to be a good party game for all ages. The baby loved it, the kids loved it, even the gramps had fun too.

If used for a party game, you can get the kids to compete fishing in pairs and see who can catch more fish in a limited time. Or, you could say out the names of the fish one by one and see who can catch them first. Or, you can allocate points for each fish and see who gets the highest points in the end.

Now, I love things that can be used and reused, so I am glad my girl likes to take out the game once in a while to have some fun at home too. We let her learn about colours and the names of the fishes through playing it.

For most of the time, she would turn around and ask me "Mummy, what fish do you like?" and so I have to pick one which she will fish it out and give it to me saying "Nah, you can eat it now". Yum yum yum. We would do this over and over again and she would be so super proud and happy when she catches all the fishes for our dinner.

Now, I guess I can pretend to wolf down a shark or a jellyfish just to see her smile. Happy Sunday, everyone!

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To fellow bloggers who have a fun craft session, DIY tip or creative idea to share, come join in the party! Highlight and press Ctrl + C to copy my button above, include it in your post/sidebar and add your link below. I will be hosting Creativity 521 on the 5th and 21st of every month, do hop over for more inspiration. Remember: The sky's the limit when it comes to creativity!