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How to Make a Fun Paper Plate Fish | F is for Fish

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F is for fish. And a fun way to teach that concept is to create an adorable and recognizable fish from a couple of paper plates. Also, I have more alphabet letter fun on my page How to Homeschool Preschool.

There are a couple of fish that are just iconic and well known because they are true movie stars.

For example, one is a clown fish and the other a blue tang with short term memory loss (maybe).

Those movies have taught kids so much about life under the ocean and so much more so I thought that they would make a wonderful subject for our F is for fish craft.

How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

Your child can make their fish any make-believe fantasy species they like, or you can challenge them to choose a favorite type of ocean fish and recreate it.

There are so many beautiful options out there, especially saltwater fish.

First, look at these books about the ocean and the animals that live in it.

Kid’s Books About the Ocean and Animals

16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.

Next, look at these facts about fish.

5 Fun Fish Facts for Preschoolers

  1. A large group of fish is called a ‘school’.
  2. Fish have vertebrae, which means that they have a backbone or a spine.
  3. They breathe with their gills, as the water flows over them they absorb the oxygen in it.
  4. Fish are cold blooded, and that means that their internal body temperature changes depending on the surrounding temperature.
  5. The starfish, jellyfish, and crayfish live in the water but lack a backbone, so they are not truly fish at all.
How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

Just in case you want to turn it into a swimmingly full fish unit I have some ideas for each subject for you that can take it from a quick project to a week or longer deep sea dive!

Math

Science

  • Learn the science behind Magic Swimming Fish and amaze them with all the cool things you know how to do.

Language Arts

  • You will appreciate that this sensory F is For Fish Craft is contained and not messy (just watch for holes in the bag!)
  • Letter F-F is For Fish makes smart use of celery to create fish scales on the letter to make it resemble the slippery ocean dweller we are learning about.

Snacks

More How to Homeschool Preschool Letter of the Week Activities

Finally, look how to make this F is for fish adorable craft.

How to Make a Fun Paper Plate Fish

You will need:

  • 2 paper plates
  • Craft paint
  • paintbrushes
  • Scissors
  • Glue
How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

First, cut a fishtail from the center and the edge of one paper plate, it helps to use a book or Google an image of the fish that you’re making to use as inspiration.

Have your child paint one entire paper plate the base color of whatever fish you choose.

For a blue tang like I did here you want a pretty deep blue.

And  then the tail whatever color (yellow here). Set aside to dry.

How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

When the paint is dry you can begin to shape the paper plate a bit with scissors to create a little bit more pointed side for the face and give a little shape to the back end as well.

How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

Use black paint and a small paintbrush (or a paint pen) to add your tang details like an eye and the thick black line that goes around it and runs to the end.

How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

Add a little black detail to the edges of the tail as well and don’t forget to give him a little fin for swimming.

Glue the tail to the backside of the plate and let the glue dry.

Feel free to make an entire ocean of fish as you enjoy your fish journey with your child.

How to Make a Fun Paperplate Fish | F is for Fish

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

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If you are looking for exciting Swiss Family Robinson activities, you have landed in the right place. Also, you’ll love more ideas on my post Swiss Family Robinson Unit Study.

There are so many great little rabbit trails you can take while doing a read-aloud of the Swiss Family Robinson.

For example, you can learn about the flora and fauna of the island, the journey to the island, how they survived and thrived, and what they ate.

Oysters were a plentiful delicacy that they found on the island and provided the family protein to help keep them strong and give them energy.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

They are still enjoyed today, steamed, grilled, fried, and in many recipes.

Naturally, I thought that it would be a great subtopic to chase down.

This might make a fantastic field trip to a restaurant to give them a try or perhaps make a recipe at home.

We are going to cover the journey from how an oyster turns pearl and how these beauties are formed inside the unassuming rough-looking shell.

I have directions for making your cute oyster craft as well as a few resources and other oyster and pearl ideas that give you plenty of fun to work on.

More The Swiss Family Robinson Activities

In addition, look at these resources to go with the Swiss Family Robinson Unit Study.

8 Books & Resources for Learning About The Swiss Family Robinson

Add some of these books to your unit study of The Swiss Family Robinson and their adventures on a deserted island.

Oyster Formation Facts

  • First, oysters are often found in groups, called “reefs” or “beds”. They create these by growing on top of as well as next to each other, creating their own ecosystem.
  • Oyster reefs can occur naturally or be created by oyster farmers.
  • Within just 12 hours of birth, they begin to build their shells. This process is done by pulling calcium out of the water and depositing it as calcium carbonate on the outside of their bodies.
  • Once they reach approximately 3 weeks old they are heavy and attach themselves to the reef or bed made by the other oysters.
  • The inside of an oyster shell is usually white or pearl colored. But the outer shell takes on a variety of different colors. A lot are dark gray, but the Pacific oyster can have purple, brown, and white coloring while Cornish Native Oysters are blue.
  • Not only do they create an ecosystem for themselves but also many other fish and creatures. Because they do not move they eat what passes by and act as a filtration system, creating cleaner water.
  • Inside the oyster is the edible part, or the adductor muscle which is a creamy beige color.
Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Next, look at these facts about pearls.

Pearl Formation Facts

  • Pearls are the result of a grain of sand or other irritant getting under the “skin” or mantle.
  • When the irritant is present the oyster secretes a mucus with a mineral calcium carbonate in it that is called the nacre and it envelopes the irritant.
  • Over time this material hardens and becomes a pearl. This process can take six months. to four years to develop. Larger pearls take longer and are more valuable.
  • Perfectly round pearls are not naturally occurring, pearls in the wild are usually small and irregularly shaped.
  • Pearls can come in a wide variety of colors, most commonly white, cream, pink, and purple but they can also be champagne, chocolate, blue, gold, silver, and lavender.

Moreover, look at these other activities.

Swiss Family Robinson Activities – From Oyster To Pearl

Before we jump into our oyster with a pearl craft today here are a few more hands-on activities I think that you will enjoy.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Finally, Ocean Anatomy proved once again to be a fantastic resource for a nature lesson. While they did not go over oyster shells there is a wonderful section on pearls.

Paper Plate Oyster

You will need:

  • Paper plate
  • Foam craft ball
  • Pink craft foam
  • gray/tan craft paint
  • Pearlescent craft paint
  • Sponge 
  • Hot glue
Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

First, turn your paper plate upside down so that the “bowl” is facing down and sponge paint some color and texture on it.

You can skip this part if you like but it provides a great opportunity to talk about how the shell is formed and the variety of colors they might be.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Paint a craft foam ball a pretty pearly color and set it aside to dry.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Allow the paint to dry completely then fold the plate in half, trim the outside a bit if you like to create a more elongated shape like a real oyster.

Use paint or a marker and add a little bit of color around the edges on the inside of your oyster to create the fringe.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Cut a piece of cream craft foam or felt (or construction paper) slightly smaller than the inside of your plate and glue it into place as the adductor muscle.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

Hot glue the “pearl” to the center.

For older students, you can also have them label the parts of an oyster as well using the model that they just made.

Exciting Swiss Family Robinson Activities | From Oyster To Pearl

How to Make An Edible Geography Model of Tidal Zones

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

This edible geography to show sea levels is absolutely fun. Also, you’ll love my free Oceans Unit Study and Lapbook.Too, look at my page Homeschool Geography for hands-on and simple ideas and tips.

How to Make An Edible Geography Model of Tidal Zones

While Mr. Awesome was reading aloud to us about water bodies in our new North Star Geography, I wanted an activity that included both our Ocean Unit Study and to tie in with understanding about water bodies.

Edible Geography – Sea Levels

So I helped him create an edible model of the tidal zones and some of the creatures and plants that live in each zone. 

Too, back on Day 8 of 10 Days of Diving into Unit Studies, I shared part of my Ocean lesson plans with you which included this idea for an edible tidal zone as our unit study opener.

I have some more hands on things we have done too with our North Star Geography that I am going to show you soon too, but I wanted to share our project for edible tidal zones with you today because its something you can do with your younger kids.

Too, edible models are easy to do too because you have a head start on supplies in your house and it makes gathering the rest of them easy. 

And I am sure too we could have waited and bought perfect little molds of star fish instead of forming them by hand with peanut butter dough and freezing them. 

But then we would have almost perfect homeschooling and there is no such thing in this house.

Too, like I shared in the 10 Day of Diving into Unit Studies try to kick off  your unit study with a hands-on project.  It is not necessary that Tiny understands exactly about each zone and creature in the project.  It is all about whetting his appetite for learning.

Edible Geography Sea Levels

Okay, well maybe the candy helped too.  I picked up a tad more candy than we normally keep in the house, which wasn’t a problem for him.

Next, look at some of these books to bring learning to life.

I lean toward living books first then add reference books as we need them.

Books About the Ocean for Kids

16 Ocean Books for Kids Who Love to Read and Be Read To

Choose a few of these ocean themed books to go along with your study of the Oceans. Whether you're looking for a spine for a unit study or literature, you'll love this roundup.

Look at what we used:

edible ocean 2_edible ocean 3
  • Peanut butter dough formed our sand or shore.  He just formed it and made it pyramid shape to show the different zones.
Edible Geography – Sea Levels

Hands-on Geography – Sea Levels

  • He also formed starfish out of the peanut butter dough.   We found out that if we stuck the peanut butter dough in the freezer for a bit, they hardened and Tiny could paint them with food coloring.
  • Laffy taffy candy stretched pretty well to form the bladder and channeled wrack and the oar weed.  Peanut butter worked great for smearing on a bit more “ocean sand” and color.
  • We did have yogurt raisins in the house for the “mussels”.
  • Then of course white chocolate and dark chocolate chips make great shells and barnacles.  We always have those in the house.
  • We did pick up some German chocolate frosting when we went to the store because Tiny thought it looked like bits of small plants and animals in the lower shore, which is under the water about 90 percent of the time.
  • We could have easily made blue frosting, but since he wanted the German chocolate frosting, we picked up some sea blue frosting.
Edible Geography – Sea Levels

{Crazy kid. I love teaching him.}

I have several more ideas for hands on for this unit and will be using some of them off my Ocean Unit Study lesson plans. 

Too, I seem to create more ideas as I go along which is the fun part of unit studies.  You can skip ahead to other lesson ideas, leave out some or add other things that interest your children.

My peanut butter loving kid had no problem with our first day of our Ocean Unit Study.  I love it too when things unplanned like using our North Star Geography and our current Ocean Unit Study come together.

You’ll also love these other hands-on activities:

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We are creating a jellyfish in a jar preschool activity that is part art project and part science to highlight World Jellyfish Day on November 3rd. Also, you’ll love How to Homeschool Preschool and Learn How to Make an Easy Jellyfish Lights Craft.

It is a fun but simple demonstration of how jellyfish move in the water and making the jellyfish together provides the perfect opportunity to talk about its anatomy.

The best part is that you can make it with trash, well at least items destined for the trash or recycle bin.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

What makes this cool science activity work the way it does?

Air is lighter than water, so any way that you turn the bottle, the head of the jellyfish will rise to the top.

Use these facts below to learn more about the moon jelly that closely resembles our jellyfish in a jar and some of the resources and activities I found to create an entire study or just a day of fun and learning.

4 Facts About Moon Jellyfish

Since our jellyfish in a jar activity resembles a moon jellyfish, we are going to swim right into it and learn all about this amazing invertebrate.

  1. Aurelia is a genus of jellyfish; they are commonly called moon jellies and are in the class Scyphozoa. There are currently 25 accepted species that fall under moon jellies.
  1. Moon jellies can be identified by four circles visible through the translucent white bell and short tentacles.
  1. Moon jellyfish can be found in oceans all around the world. They thrive in a warm environment and are often found near coastlines in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.
  1. Moon jellies even went into space as an experiment on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1991 as part of a study on the effects of weightlessness on the development of internal organs in juvenile jellies.
Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Also, look at some of these books about jellyfish.

I always lean toward living books first, then add reference books.

7 Books and Resources about Jellyfish

Add some of these books and resources to your study of jellyfish.

Additionally, look at these other jellyfish crafts.

Jellyfish Activities

Choose one or more additional activities to make your jellyfish study even better, allowing a deeper dive into the topic.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Finally, look how to make this jellyfish in a jar preschool activity.

Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

You will need:

  • Large clean jar
  • Water
  • Small plastic bag
  • Scissors
  • Straw
  • String
  • Blue food coloring
Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

First, cut a square of plastic out of a store bag or ziploc bag that would fit inside your jar with plenty of room to move.

Cut strips through both sides, leaving a few inches uncut for tentacles, you may want to cut away a few of the strips so it is not so full.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Place a straw into the center and wrap a string just above the cuts to define the head (bell) of the jellyfish.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Blow into the straw to fill it with air. As you pull out the straw, tighten and tie off the string to keep it filled with air.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Fill the jar with water and a drop of blue food coloring.

If you add too much blue it will be hard to see your jellyfish.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Use the straw to push the jellyfish down into the jar.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Replace the lid and watch the tentacles dance around as you gently swirl the water.

To extend the activity a bit you can let your child use dry erase markers.

Use the markers on the jar to create a colorful world for your jellyfish to live in.

Celebrate World Jellyfish Day With A Jellyfish in a Jar Preschool Activity

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Today, I have a seashore beach lapbook and unit study. Grab more ideas on my lapbook ideas page and on my best homeschool unit studies page.

I can smell the beach from here! Okay, maybe not where I live now, but I feel that way since I grew up with the beach a short 30 minute drive. And we never missed a chance to go to it.

We would cook crab or gumbo, spend hours on the shoreline and build a fire.

Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Seashore watching was an activity I loved as a kid and I made sure my kids knew about it. I think you’ll love these ideas for a seashore watching unit study.

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook. Whether you want to study the beach or seashore in the summer or winter, your kids will love this free super seashore watching unit study and free beach lapbook along with hands-on activities! CLICK HERE to grab it!

Note: My Seashore Lapbook was free for a limited time.

I gathered up several activities that I think you’ll love for an easy homeschool seashore watching unit study and then I have an easy lapbook about things you can find along the beach shoreline.

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook

Like most all of my unit study resources I share multiple ages links so you can pick and choose links for your kids.

This one is no different. I have resources for kids from Prek to High School.

Seashore Kids Activities

Too, we love and used this book, Seashore Watcher, as a guide because we love it.

Also did I mention it has some easy hands-on activities in it also.

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

I loved the fact that the book came with a plastic water protector cover so you could pick up and go to the beach. It’s the little things that amuse me.

More Seashore and Beach Activities for Kids

Seashore Lesson Plans, Printables, and Activities

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook
Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook


(You can see why I loved this book, Seashore Watcher for an easy unit study. It has easy hands-on ideas.)

Seashore Watching Media 

Decorator Crabs Make High Fashion at Low Tide | Deep Look
Seaweeds powerpoint.

Seashore Watching Hands-on Activities

Also, you’ll love this seashore lapbook.

Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Also, this is not our first time studying about the beach and ocean life.

You’ll love our hands-on edible geography where we made the tidal zones and edible ocean layers. (yum)

Seashore Beach Watching Unit Study and Seashore Lapbook


You’ll love my free ocean unit study lapbook and free coral reef lapbooks.

.

Note: My Seashore Lapbook was free for a limited time.

Free Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook

Look at these other links:

Super Seashore Watching Unit Study and Beach Lapbook. Whether you want to study the beach or seashore in the summer or winter, your kids will love this free super seashore watching unit study and free beach lapbook along with hands-on activities! CLICK HERE to grab it!