Polka dot painted fish

We recently spent time exploring “under the sea” and the children created one of our old favorite paper plate activities – the polka dot painted fish…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

We started out our morning reading Blue Sea by Robert Kalan.  We’ve written about this book a few other times and shared some really great art ideas related to it.  It is such a simple book with bright, vivid colors and pictures that it really inspires so many activities around the classroom!  Blue Sea is also a great book for introducing or reviewing comparative words  like big, bigger, and biggest…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

After listening to our story, the children went off to the centers.  At the art table, they found paper plates, assorted colors of paint, and paint dabbers.  There were also scissors, glue, and googly eyes…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

Before getting started, Deborah showed the children how they could use the scissors to cut a triangle shape out of their paper plate.  When stapled to one side of the paper plate, the triangle wedge would become the tail and the missing piece would be the fish’s mouth. The children thought that simple detail was pretty cool so they were excited to go off and cut out their own fish mouth and tail…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

I think the best part of this process was watching the kids cut out their own fish mouth/tail.  Every child’s effort to cut out the mouth/tail turned out differently. You may be thinking that this is a “cookie cutter art project” and perhaps in many ways it is but there was a lot of process behind this craft that interested our students starting with the cutting process and moving on to explore the paint dabbers…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

The paint dabbers had been set out on the easel the day before, but just a few children had the chance to use them.  So we set them out again with our paper plates to decorate our fish…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

Some children chose to dab the sponges on their fish to make polka dots.  Other children chose to smoosh the dabbers onto their paper, dragging it around to spread the brightly colored paint.  Whichever technique the children chose to use, each child’s fish turned out terrific…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

Some of the children chose to add their googly eyes right away, while others chose to add them after they had finished painting their fish…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

When they were finished, we had the cutest polka dot painted fish with some of the best tails and mouths ever.  One mom said her daughter was so proud of her fish and played with it all afternoon…

Polka dot painted fish by Teach Preschool

Links to grow on:

Ff is for Fish

Fish in the Water

Foil Fish in Preschool 

Available on Amazon

Deborah J Stewart

Deborah J Stewart

Every time I think I know everything I need to know about teaching young children, God says, "Hold on a minute!" and gives me a new challenge.

Let me tell ya...

With each new challenge that you overcome, you will find yourself better equipped and more passionate about teaching young children.

God didn't call wimps to lead, teach, or care for His children. Nope, he has high expectations, so get ready. You will have to give your very best but after teaching for over 30 years, I can tell you that it is a wonderful and rewarding journey.

Whenever your calling feels hard, just remember, 'He who began a good work in you (and in the children you serve) will be faithful to complete it.'

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