Let's play... fishing!

Today I'm sharing with you an activity for these sunny days. We played it several times in the last week and will probably play it during all the summer, since my son enjoyed it very much! 

I made it with recycled materials and objects that I had at home,  but the possibilities are so many that you'll surely find some materials at your home. 

Depending on your children age you can build the material with them, or make it yourself if they are really young and then present them the game ready to play.

What we used

For fishing: 

• tea strainer that we'll use as fishing net
• magnetic fishing rod (we took one from another game but you can build one with a stick, rope, a magnet and hot glue) 
• spacious basin

 

For the magnetic fishing: 

• small metal lids, I used the ones from baby food jars (we have plenty thanks to the little sister in weaning phase) but you can use also small lids from jam, honey or pesto jars
•  moosegummy leftovers
• scissors
• glue

 

For the net fishing: 

• corks
• needle and thread
• beads in several shapes and materials (glass,plastic) and sequins 
• awl or similar to pierce a hole throught the corks (I used a very big safety pin, a thin long nail would be a good alternative)
• nut shells
• moosegummy leftovers
• scissors
• glue

What we did

Magnetic fishing: I cut from the moosegummy leftovers some shapes related to the sea: shells, fishes, anchor, crab. Then together with my son we glued them inside the lids. 

Turtle: I placed half nut shell on the moosegummy to trace the outline of a turtle, then cut it and glued the shell on top. Then I drew the eyes with a black pen. 

Jellyfish: with the awl I pierced a hole through the cork from side to side to create a passage for the thread of the tentacles. I cut approximately 90cm of thread for each couple of tentacles, folded in half, put the two ends through the needle and made a knot, so that every tentacle will have four layers of thread inside, as shown in the picture below: 

I threaded the beads to create a tentacle of approx 8cm, then put the needle through the hole made in the cork, and then threaded other beads to create another 8cm tentacle. End with another knot. I made in the same way another couple of tentacles for each jellyfish. 

Wait until the glue is dry and... now we're ready to go fishing! Put some water in the basin, place the lids underwater and let the turtle and jellyfish float. Your children will enjoy catching them with the magnetic fishing rod or the tea strainer! 

The ones I described are just few ideas but possibilities are endless: if you have real shells at home you can glue them inside a lid after painting the bottom with nail polish, or you can glue rhinestones and golden studs inside the lids to create submerged treasures of coins and gemstones... there's no limit to creativity!

We like it because: 

• we play with water, and that alone would be enough!
• it's great to cool down in hot days if you don't have a paddling pool
• beads and rhinestones create wonderful glares in the water
• we learn about sea animals
• we sharpen ability and logic trying to catch our treasures with different tools
• for the elder kids we can create a competition by assigning different points to the treasures and vie to see who gets more points

And now... have fun!