Play Group Craft: The Rainbow Fish

This past week in Play Groups we decided to work on our fine motor skills by making our very own Rainbow Fish!

After reading "The Rainbow Fish" to the children, we learned how to share with one another. We tore up construction paper into little scales and shared them with our neighbors to make a colorful fish. 

What you'll need:

• Construction Paper (multiple colors)
• A fish pattern on regular white paper
• (you can draw one, or find one online by googling "fish template")
• Glue Stick (easier because you can just rub it all over the paper and have your child stick it on)
• Glitter
• Liquid glue (elmer's type glue for the glitter) 

What you'll do:

1. Allow your child to rip the construction paper into scale-size pieces

TIP: This is great for your child's fine motor development. It can help them learn how to use their little hands and fingers, and allow for that coordination to develop!!

2. Once all the scales are ripped, rub glue stick all over the fish and allow child to glue on scales

3. Once the child is finished gluing scales, rub Elmer's glue in different parts on the fish, sprinkle glitter on top, and shake off excess into garbage or back into container

You are all done! 

After our fishies were completed, we had some Whale Crackers as a snack!

A few Tips and Pictures from this week's play group:

TIP: Singing with your child and doing the motions improves many aspects your child's development.

Language Development: words and rhymes help your child improve language abilities

Motor Development: As you use motions in the songs, it can help your child learn how to move their bodies and learn control

TIP: Repetition is a great learning tool that we often overlook. As we do Ring Around the Rosie, many of the kid's will yell out when we are done "again!" Children learn from REPETITION. Each time something is repeated, your child will process something new from that experience... Therefore the more you repeat it, the more a child will learn. For example does your child love to watch the same movie over and over again? It is because each time they watch it, it is as if it were a NEW movie, because they process something different. 

We do each of the following songs EVERY WEEK, in hopes that the children can process something new each time we do!

Wheels on the Bus:

Ring Around the Rosie:

 Hokey Pokey:

 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

 The Itsy Bitsy Spider:

 Ga-goon:

 Old MacDonald:

 Reading Time:

Parents, there are many great things we can do at home to help our children grow and develop happily and healthily! Enjoy this week's craft, I will be back next week with more!