Newspaper Stuffed Fish

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Make newspaper fish while learning about ocean life! A frugal craft the whole family will enjoy!

Second hand buy and sell groups are great for homeschoolers. I came across a full book / curriculum about the ocean. (Great Science Adventures, Discovering the Ocean by Dinah Zike and Susan Simpson). My youngest adores the ocean and all its creatures so I hope the lessons are going to be amazing for him. We will be starting with it in the next week (brace yourselves for lots of ocean crafts!) I decided on a hands-on craft to start the journey, by making fish.

You can use the same idea to make any other simple creatures, or maybe hearts, as Valentine’s Day is around the corner.

For your newspaper- stuffed fish you will need:

Newspaper
Masking Tape or Stapler
Paint
Crinkle paper
Marker pen

What to do:

Draw the design on a double layer of newspaper and cut out. Staple or use small pieces of masking tape around the edges to make a pocket but leave an opening. Use newspaper strips or small scrunched up balls to stuff inside your fish.

Once your fish is stuffed, close the opening. Your stuffed fish is now ready for painting.

When working with newspaper I always paint a white undercoat otherwise you end up painting layer after layer after layer to get coverage, especially on light colours. Once paint is dry, attach a piece of string to both sides of your fish, at the top, to form a loop for your fish to hang from. Secure the string with a piece of masking tape. You should actually do this before you paint the base coat but I only thought of “how to hang problem” after I painted the base coat.

Draw a basic design on your fish of where main colours should go. Paint the main colours and let dry. Next, use as many patterns and colours as you feel like, your imagination is the limit. You can even do different designs on the opposite side of one fish. We used strips of crinkle paper for our jellyfish tentacles. Simply staple to the underside of the jellyfish and paint over the staples. Lastly add details by using a marker pen and outlining the eyes and main features.