This awesome paper painted fish craft from Sally over at Fairy Dust Teaching is actually two crafts in one! First, students get to try their hand at bubble printing in order to create the ocean backdrop. Next, they'll create fish using painted paper, crayons, and sequins!

Project 1: Bubble Printed Paper

To create bubble printed paper, you'll need a basin of water, liquid dish soap, blue craft paint, watercolor paper, plastic straws, and a straight pin.

Add 1/4 cup of dish soap and 1 cup of tempera paint to the basin of warm water, using your hand to agitate the water and mix it all up. When it's their turn to create a print, have students use a drinking straw to blow a layer of bubbles on the top of the water, carefully lay their paper on top of the bubbles, then gently lift the paper back out of the basin before it hits the water. It's important to note that you should let the weight of the paper pop the bubbles rather than push the paper down into them.

The straigt pin should be used to poke a hole in the drinking straws so that students can't suck the soapy paint mixture back up into their mouths.

Sally created a video of the process if you're a visual person! You can find it here at her blog!

Project 2: Painted Paper Fish

Armed with tempera paint, watercolor paper, and a paint brush, have your students cover their entire paper with paint. Encourage them to use/blend different colors; warm hues, cool hues, a rainbow of colors, etc!

Once their painted paper has dried, they're ready to create their fish! First, have them use templates to trace and cut the body and fins.

Next, invite your students to use crayons to add details to their fish cutouts - scales, eyes, gills, etc.

Then, using craft glue, have students glue their fish cutouts to the bubble printed background. They can then use crayons to add details to the ocean - air bubbles, seaweed, other sea animals, etc.

Finally, invite students to add sequins, buttons, and other craft embellishments to their fish cutouts and their project is complete! Check out these awesome finished products...

An beautifully vibrant project that would make a great addition to your ocean unit, "Rainbow Fish" literature unit, or other crafting plans throughout the year!