Living by the sea is a huge influence on our arts and crafts activities and we often find ourselves making something connected with the sea. Our favourites so far have been our our Tape Resist Clown Fish. Today we are sharing another fish inspired craft, this time with a fine motor skills theme.
My youngest is starting school in September, so we have been doing lots of fine motor skills work at home to help strengthen her little hands and fingers in preparation for learning to write at school. We have been using tongs in our sensory activities, building with bricks and painting with cotton buds to help strengthen her pincer grip and build up the small muscles in her hands, fingers and wrists.
Fine Motor Fish Collage
Homework time can quickly become a battleground in our house, as I try to manage the different needs of my 3 kids all at once. To help keep my youngest busy whilst I help her brothers with their reading and spellings, I often set up a simple craft activity for her to next to them and we made these fine motor fish collages during a recent homework session.
Supplies
- Coloured Construction Paper
- Black Marker Pen
- Coloured Buttons
- Cheerios
- Paper
- Glue
Ahead of the Activity
Cut out fish templates from the coloured construction paper and draw straight, curved or zigzag lines across the body with a black marker.
Use the black marker again to draw waves along the bottom of a sheet of paper.
Load up a dish with buttons and another with cheerios, grab some glue and you are ready to go.
How to make a Fine Motor Fish Collage
I had cut out a few fish templates as my youngest son often hopes over to join in with the craft activity as he only gets a little bit of homework at the moment (unlike his poor big brother!).
Bella set to work gluing the buttons along the first curved line on her fish template. Picking up the small buttons with her fingers was the perfect workout for her pincer grip.
I had intended for the second line to have buttons glued along as well, but Bella couldn’t wait to get stuck into the Cheerios and used them for the second line, instead of holding them back for the sea bed (she ate at least one for every one she glued down, but I had allowed for this).
There is no right or wrong when doing crafts with kids, so instead of stressing about her change of plan, I embraced it and chatted to her about her picture as she continued to work on it in her own way.
Freddie joined in halfway through, which lead to a few squabbles over who had eaten the most Cheerios (definitely Bella) but a quick refill of the dish sorted this out and Freddie created a beautiful piece of art complete with a Cheerio sea bed.
More Button Crafts
Button Fish Craft for Kids – I Heart Crafty Things
Button Pineapple w/free printable – Glued To My Crafts
Ladybug Button Art – Easy Peasy and Fun
Rainbow Caterpillar Button Craft – Artsy Craftsy Mom
Button Dragonfly Craft – Artsy Momma
Invitation to Create with Buttons – Pink Stripey Socks
Starfish Craft -A Little Pinch of Perfect
Button Snail Craft – I Heart Arts n Crafts
Button Stick Tree Craft for Kids | hello, Wonderful
Button Birds– Crafty Morning
More Under the Sea Crafts
28 Fin-tastic Fish Crafts for Kids
Cupcake Liner Fish in a Watercolour Sea
Sensory Play with Water Beads and Robo Fish
Mermaid Coloring Pages for Kids
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Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
Thank you for sharing!
This is the cutest thing I’ve seen in the art niche! Well done and great pics too! Love those fishies!