Bottle Top Fish Counting

Bottle Top Fish Counting Craft

Ages: 3-5 years

Parental assistance may be needed with smaller children

Difficulty: * * * * * (2/5)

Time: 20-30 minutes

This counting craft ties in with the summer reading theme, Reading is MathMagical.  You will be creating an underwater scene using plastic bottle lids to make fish.  A number on the fish determines how many air bubbles you’ll make for each, which encourages counting and number recognition.  Let your imagination swim away with you on this craft!

Materials Needed (located at your favorite craft store):

• One piece of blue construction paper (any shade of blue)
• 3-5 plastic bottle lids (any size you have, and enough to make as many fish as you like)
• Sharpies
• Construction paper scraps of any color
• Scraps of tissue paper
• Glue stick
• Glue Dots (to affix lids to paper – less messy, no dry time required)
• Small Styrofoam plate
• White paint
• Drinking straw

How-to Steps:

1. Choose how many fish to include in your underwater scene.  That’s how many lids you’ll need.  Use the Sharpies to draw on fish faces and gills.  Parents, write a random number somewhere on the fish.  This indicates how many bubbles we need to make later on.
2. Next you’ll use the construction paper scraps to make a tail and fins.  Arrange them on the construction paper however you choose.  Then attach Glue Dots to the edge of the lids, and place lids over paper fins and tail to form the fish.  You can use regular white glue or glue sticks if you don’t have Glue Dots. 
3. Take the tissue paper and scrunch it however you’d like to make the seaweed.  Rub the glue stick of the construction paper and arrange the tissue paper into seaweed stalks.
4. Squeeze some white paint onto a small Styrofoam plate.  Take the drinking straw and dip it into the paint.  Then press the straw onto the blue construction paper making the correct number of bubbles for each fish.

Your scene is complete!  Proudly display it for everyone to see!