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INVITATION IDEAS
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Take small index cards and cut them into the shape of a simple fat fish. |
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Write a party greeting on the front of the fish and the party particulars on the back. |
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Place the invitations into envelopes and decorate with fish stickers.
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FAVOR IDEA
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Fill small plastic boats with nuts, candies or fish shaped crackers. |
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DECORATION IDEAS
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Hang pictures of boats and fish on the walls or from the ceiling as a mobile. |
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A fish net could be hung on the wall with paper cut outs of fish, sea stars and shells attached. |
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Place a large plastic boat, or fish bowl, in the middle of your table for a center piece.
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FOOD IDEAS
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Serve tuna or fish stick sandwiches. |
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If you plan to serve lunch at your party, you can get small white boxes at a bakery and decorate them to look like fishing baskets. Put a picnic lunch inside each one. |
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CHILD INVOLVEMENT IDEAS
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FISH FARM – If at all possible, take your party to a place where they can actually fish, such as a trout farm. Preschoolers love catching fish. The best part about trout farms, is that they will clean the trout, if the child wants to take the fish home to eat. |
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FISH BOWLS – Give each child a white paper plate and some fish stickers. Have the children place fish stickers in the middle of their plate. Then give them some green crayons and have them draw green seaweed around the fish. Then place a paper plate that you have previously cut out the center and taped a piece of blue cellophane over the hole. Turn the plate over and place it on top of a child’s plate to create a round fish bowl. Staple the two plates together. Cut a straight edge across the top and bottom of the fish bowl to make it look more like a fish bowl. Let the children take their fish bowls home. |
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UNDERWATER PICTURES – Another fish activity, is to let your children draw an underwater fish picture using white sheets of paper and crayons. When the children are finished drawing their pictures, have them paint across their drawing with a blue wash (a mixture of blue paint and water). When they brush the wash across the drawing, the wash will just fill in the spaces around the crayons marks, making it look like an underwater pictures. |
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ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT
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Divide the children at the party, into pairs. |
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Have the pairs of children sit on the floor facing each other. |
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Then have them each raise their knees and press their feet together. |
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And finally, have them join hands and rock back and forth while you all sing the song, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”. |
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FISHING GAME
You will need a small magnet, a string and a stick, some paper and some paper clips.
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First make a small fishing pole, by tying a string onto a small horse shoe magnet and then tying the opposite end onto a stick or wooden pole. |
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Next, using heavy paper, cut out 8-12 fish shapes. |
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Then attach a paper clip to the front end of each fish shape. |
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Lay the fish on the floor and let your children take turns “fishing” for fish. |
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The children could fish for: who catches the most fish in a set period of time, or they could fish for different numbers of fish or different colors of fish.
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SURPRISE FISHING
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Once, I had children hold their fishing lines over the back of a sofa, where I had placed small metal toys to “catch”. |
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And another time, I had children fish over the railing of a deck, where I had a helper stationed below the deck to tie on a small gift, then pull the string, when it was time for the child to pull up his line. |
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FISHING NET GAME
You will need two adults to hold up a fishing net for this game.
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Adults hold up a display fishing net while the children “swim” back and forth under the net. |
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Adults sing the following rhyme to the tune of “The Farmer In The Dell”, while they hold up the net.
We cast our net out,
The fish swim about,
Heave-ho, watch it go
We cast our net out.
* At this time, the adults drop the net.
* Then they sing the following rhyme.
The net comes down.
It settles on the ground.
How many fish did we catch,
This time around?
* Everyone counts the number of fish (children) caught in the net.
* Repeat game while interest lasts.
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OH, I WISH I WAS A FISH GAME
Have children take turns swimming in the middle of a circle pretending to be a specific kind of fish, while everyone sings the following words to the tune of the “Oscar Meyer” song.
Oh I wish, I wish, I wish, I was a fish.
That is what I’d truly like to be.
For, if I, if I, if I was a fish.
I would be a _______ in the sea.
© Jean Warren
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