Paper Plate Fish Craft and Science Activity

Materials

• 2 paper plates
• construction paper,cardboard
• paint
• glue
• ribbon/ markers/crayons/paint
• scissors
• googley eyes or black marker

Directions

• Paint the backs of 2 paper plates (any color).
• Decide how you want to decorate the fish. (I decided on vertical lines and glued pieces of ribbon.)
• Decorate the 2 plates.
• Draw and cut out fins from another piece of paper (or you can use extra paper plates to draw on).
• Paint or decorate the fins if desired.
• Glue the fins on the back of one of the decorated plates then glue the other plate to the 1st plate.
• Add googley eyes or draw eyes with a black marker or crayon.

Science, Math, and Geography Extensions

• Review with students that fish are vertebrates (animals with a backbone) that live in the water. (science)
• If students decide to make striped fish discuss the terms vertical and horizontal. (math)
• Discuss vertical and horizonal imaginary lines on Earth: longitude and latitude. (geography)
• Discuss with students the function (job) of the fins on a fish. (science) (The fins and tail of a fish {tail fin} help the fish swim.)

Science Activity

Do an activity to help the students learn about the placement of eyes on a fish.

• Have students compare the placement of their eyes and the placement of a fish's eyes.   (A human's eyes are placed on the front of his/her head. A fish's eyes are placed on the sides of its heads.)
• Ask the children what advantage does having eyes on the side of  its head help an animal such as a fish. (Fish can spot predators and see things behind them quicker than if their eyes were located on the front of their head.)
• Do an activity to help demonstrate this. Have students work with a partner. Have both students stand side by side. Have one partner start taking steps backward while the other partner stays in the same spot. How far can the partner go before the other partner has to turn his head to see him or her.  Have students discuss their results. Discuss how the results would be different if we had eyes on the side of our heads.

___________________________________________________