Fun Activities for The Rainbow Fish Book
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I read The Rainbow Fish book to my children pretty much every summer when they were little. We had a lake in our neighborhood and would go swimming with friends most weeks. We frequently saw lots of little fish in the lake, so there was a natural curiosity and interest surrounding fish.
I am a big believer in capitalizing on our children’s natural interests, so The Rainbow Fish appeared in our book basket pretty much every summer for a few years. We would spend the morning at the lake and then spend rest time snuggling up together on the couch reading
The Rainbow Fish is a cute story with an important message: there are more important things than appearances. Rainbow Fish thinks he is the most beautiful fish in the sea because of his shimmering scales. However, his attitude keeps him from having any friends. Eventually, he realizes that having friends makes him happier than a few sparkly scales ever could.
Read The Rainbow Fish book and then do these fun activities together.
Fun Activities for The Rainbow Fish Book
Draw Rainbow Fish
One of the defining physical features of Rainbow Fish is his beautiful sparkly scales. We can make our own Rainbow Fish by drawing a fish shape and adding in a few sparkly touches.
This project has lots of flexibility, so use whatever materials you have or that sound interesting.
The fish body and some of the fins can be drawn with:
- Crayons
- Colored pencils
- Paint
- Markers
Add a few sparkly scales with:
- Pieces of aluminum foil
- Glitter
- Metalix Kwik Stix solid paint sticks
Create a chalk art underwater scene
The lovely illustrations in The Rainbow Fish book look like chalk pastel drawings to me. They have a soft dreamy feel to them.
I like to set out our collection of chalk pastels from time to time because they are an art supply that we don’t use very often. That makes them feel special, which entices the kids over to the table.
Deep Space Sparkle has a wonderful guide to creating an under-the-water scene using chalk pastels, glue, and black paper.
Make a rainbow fish play dough tray
Play dough trays are a fun craft idea that can be adjusted to complement just about any picture book. All you need is a tray, play dough, and a few craft supplies. I like to use a divided tray because it keeps all of the materials separated. This makes clean-up time much easier.
I put together this play dough tray for The Rainbow Fish book using items I already had in my home:
- Play dough
- Colorful mini-erasers (I wouldn’t plan on being able to use these as erasers in the future)
- Pipe cleaners, cut into medium-sized pieces
- Sparkly mosaic pieces
- Cookie cutters
Many of these items were leftover from other craft projects, but I have also seen all of these items at my local dollar store.
When I was gathering the materials for this play dough tray I thought that I had a fish-shaped cookie cutter. I was wrong. That is okay though!
Kids are creative.
Rather than buy a new cookie cutter I used what I had – a bunny face, an egg, and a rocket ship. I think those shapes all have potential if they are turned on their sides.
Visit an aquarium
After you finish reading The Rainbow Fish Book visit an aquarium. My family loves field trips, so I will use any excuse to go on one.
As much as I love visiting aquariums, sometimes it just isn’t possible. Sometimes there isn’t an aquarium nearby. Sometimes the tickets are too expensive. Sometimes life is too busy to spend an entire day admiring fish.
In that case, try visiting an aquarium virtually. Many aquariums are now offering live webcam streaming. Check out this list of 17 aquariums across the country that are offering free webcams.
For more awesome book-based ideas, check out the Summer Activities for Kids series!
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