Day 2: Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish

It’s Day 2! And today we are sharing two activities inspired by Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish

STEAM Challenge: Can you make a floating fish? Can you make it swim?

We saw this first cool science activity on our STEAM Kids collaborator, Left Brain Craft Brain’s Facebook page you can see her video here. We decided to give it try but with fish!

Materials: Dry-erase marker (newer marker works better than older ones), Plastic or ceramic white plate, a glass of water

Dry-erase marker (newer marker works better than older ones)Plastic or ceramic white plate, a glass of water
Plastic or ceramic white plate
Glass of water
Straw

Step 1: Use a dry erase marker to draw your red fish, or blue fish on the white plate. Be sure to color in your fish shape completely!

Step 2: Pour water on the plate near your fish (but not on it).

Step 3: Watch your fish peel off the plate and swim!

Activity Extension: Add a straw and blow on your fish to make it swim.

This activity may take some trial and error. We tried this experiment with different colored markers and despite all marker being new, different colors worked better than others. As you can see in our video, red and green markers worked better than the blue (even all were from a new package).

STEAM Challenge #2: Can you catch a fish with a magnetic pole?

Objective: Design a fish that can be caught with a magnetic fishing pole!

Materials:

Black Marker
Watercolor Paper (or heavy card stock)
Watercolor Paint
Scissors
Paper clips
Plastic Container
Floral Gems
Colored Pebble Rocks (or tissue paper)
Magnetic Fishing Pole (ours is from a Melissa and Doug puzzle but you can make your own with a stick or dowel rod, string and hot glue to magnets to the end of the string).

Step 1: Create your fish.

We used a circle shape for the fish body and then added details to create the fins, eyes, and gills.

Paint your fish! Experiment and observe how the colors mix together!

Step 2: Create your ocean.

While your fish is drying, create your “water” for your fish.

In a plastic container, fill with a variety of ocean colored gems and/or pebbles. If you are working with younger children try shredded blue paper, tissue paper or ocean colored play scarves.

Step 3: Go fishing!

Cut out your fish and attach a paperclip to your fish. Add your fish to your “ocean” water and use the magnetic fishing pole, try to catch your fish!

It may take a few attempts for your student to discover that the magnet will only hook the fish on the paper clip. Let the children discover this on their own.