I love this letter & number recognition activity because it is part craft, part game, and all learning fun! And what kid doesn’t like to fish?
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Fishing Activity Supply List:
Want to make it easy? I’ve created this full supply list for you on Amazon.
The Fishing Rod
The Fish
- Free Stencils from Mama Shark (get them emailed to you for free- see below)
- Googly eyes
- Foam letter stickers or numbers
- Kid Scissors
- Pen (optional)
- Paper or Construction paper
- Paperclips
The Ocean
- Blue construction paper, snow saucer, or blanket
OR - Kiddie pool or water table
Activity Assembly Instructions:
For the Fishing Rod-
- Tie a piece of yarn to a ring magnet.
- Tie the other end of the yarn to a dowel rod. You may want to put a notch in the rod so the yarn doesn’t slip off. You could also use a dab of hot glue or a stapler to hold the yarn in place.
Or, you can use the already made fishing rod from these Melissa & Doug Puzzles.
For the Ocean-
Pick something blue (a blanket, snow saucer, blue construction paper, etc.) and lay it down on the ground. Or, grab a kiddie pool or water table! Easy enough, right?
For the Sea Animals-
- Draw/trace sea animals onto construction paper OR print out my free animal outlines (see below to get yours) and color them in.
- Cut out the animals.
- Stick on googly eyes
- Stick on foam letters or numbers (or more advanced learners can draw their own!)
- Add any other desired decorations.
- Attach a paperclip to each one.
Fishing Activity Instructions:
The Basics:
- Put the sea animals in the ocean
- Use the magnet on the fishing rod to catch them!
Some Variations:
- Fish for certain letters. Try to spell a short word or the child’s name!
- Fish for the alphabet. Write out the alphabet in large letters on a piece of easel paper, then let your child match up their animal with the letter on the paper each time they catch one until they’ve done the whole alphabet.
- Fish for certain numbers, or a sequence of numbers.
- Create fish with both upper and lower case numbers and sort them into piles of upper and lower case OR match up the letters (A and a, etc.).
- Put phonetic sounds (“th”, etc.) on the sea animals, then try to catch the right letters to spell words.
- Write whole words on the fish and try to make sentences!
- Add fish with math symbols (+, =, etc.) and try and catch the right numbers to make an equation.
Love this number/letter recognition fishing activity for kids?
Be sure to check out two more of our popular posts: 7 Easy, Budget-Friendly Activities for Kids, 40+ Easy, Cheap Craft and Activity Ideas for Kids and The Home Education Collection!
Did you do this Letter & Number Recognition Activity for Kids? How did it go? What would you add or change? Any variations I haven’t thought of? Comment below and let me know!
LOVE this idea!
I have a 4 year old who is constantly asking to go fishing! How clever is this!? I’m going to try it for sure! Thank u!
This looks like such a fun activity for preschoolers. Definitely going to be doing this my daughter! I like the idea of fishing for certain letters or numbers.
Love this! My LO is definitely going to be fishing so this will be great, easy practice!
What a great activity! Thank you for sharing.
This is great because not only does it teach letters and numbers, it is a great way to practice motor skills too.
This is great because I’ve learned that it is so hard to keep a child’s undivided attention! My aunt is homeschooling her 6 year old so I will definitely share this with her!
What a cool, educational activity for toddlers! You can add onto or make many variations of this activity for older kids or to add onto the lesson of the day. I used to run a home daycare and this would have been amazing to do with all my littles!
When my son is old enough we are soooo trying this!!!
Great post mama x
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