Take four popsicle sticks/ craft sticks, some paper and you have yourself a popsicle stick fish craft. Add an extra popsicle stick and you have transformed your fish into an awesome fish puppet! This fun craft can be adapted for kids of all ages. Find out more and how to make them below!

Popsicle Stick Fish Craft

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This really is a simple and fun fish craft for kids of all ages. Older children will be able to complete the entire fish with no help while younger crafters will need some help but can still create a cool backing paper design.

Sticking the popsicle sticks together can be a little fiddly so using a tacky craft glue is favorable to a hot glue gun as it will give you the chance to position the popsicle sticks correctly. The tacky craft glue that we used was fast sticking so we didn’t need to sit around for ages waiting for it to dry. The best part was not worrying about burnt fingers from a hot glue gun!

We used fun colored patterned paper to make our fish. To extend this activity further decorating a plain piece of paper using pens or pencils first would be lots of fun. This is also a good idea if you are wanting to do this activity with toddlers or preschoolers. It means that they can customize their own fun fish!

We added on fish lips which is a fun optional addition. For the eye, a googly eye was used but you can draw on an eye or use any eyelike item. A button would be super cute! You can also decorate the fish with any other craft box supplies. Glitter, stickers, jewels, anything really. If you opt for this option a cardstock base is ideal to hold up all of your treasures.

At Miss 6’s request we added on popsicle stick handles. After we were treated to a fish puppet show.

You Will Need

• 4 Popsicle sticks/ craft sticks, plus 1 extra to turn it into a fish puppet.
• Tacky craft glue or similar.
• Cardstock/ paper.
• Pencil.
• Pens or pencils if you would like to decorate the paper.
• Googly eye.
• Scissors.

Let’s Get Creative

Start by gathering all of your supplies. If you are using plain paper or cardstock then decorate it before you begin. Any pattern or design will be amazing!

Stick the popsicle sticks together, the same way as in the photo. Place them into a fish shape before sticking together with the glue. Lift up the two face parts and glue, followed by the tail, and finally, stick the head and tail together.

When the glue is fairly dry place the fish onto the piece paper or cardstock and trace around the outside of your fish. Create a line to match up the gap where the tail ends. Cut the fish shape out and trim to fit inside of your fish without having overhanging paper but making sure that you don’t take it in too far as you need to glue around the edge.

Apply glue around the edge of the paper and gently press the popsicle stick fish onto the paper.

To make a mouth, cut a small heart shape from paper. Gently insert between the paper and popsicle stick.

If needed add a little extra glue.If adding a handle then glue it on now. Stick on the googly eye. Add any crafty extras.

Other Fun Ocean Inspired Kids Crafts

• Egg Carton Jellyfish
• Fish Nature Collage Craft
• 12 Ocean Themed Crafts
• Craft Stick Shark
• Nature Art Turtle
• Sew A Felt Narwhal

Thank you for stopping by. We hope you enjoyed this popsicle stick fish craft today!