Paper craft

Pull-Tab Swimming Fish Card

Challenge (level 5 of 5)
45 min
10 steps
Ages 9–14 (a guide, not a rule)

Uses scissors
Uses glue
Adult help suggested

Start Making Print with template

Moving cards use a slider: a strip that runs in a channel between two layers. Here the channel is made from two doubled paper guides, and a small folded connector clips through a slot to carry the fish. Pull the tab and the fish swims across the sea; push it back and it swims home. The two ends of the slot stop it.

Before you start

You need

Card stock printed with sheet 1 (front panel, fish, connector), 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
Card stock printed with sheet 2 (back panel, slider, guides), 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4). Thin card stock (about 160 g/m², 60 lb) slides smoothly; printer paper also works.
Blunt-tip scissors
Glue stick
Ruler (to check the scale bar)

Decorating (optional): The sea is printed in color. Add more fish, shells or bubbles to the front panel, and write your message on the back of the back panel.

No card stock printed with sheet 1 (front panel, fish, connector)? Two strips of thin cardboard can replace the doubled guide strips. Any small paper animal can ride the connector instead of the fish.

For the grown-up: Help cut the slot: it is cut from a fold, and the long cut must stay on the line. Check that no glue reaches the slider before the card is pressed together.

Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.

How to place the paper before the first step — **Your paper:** Print both sheets at 100% (Actual size) on card stock. Check that each 5 cm bar measures 5 cm.

Valley fold: blue dashes. Fold toward you, like a valley.
Crease: a thin gray line where you folded before.
Cut: a thick solid line with scissors.
Glue: a yellow area marked "glue".
Hidden edge: gray dots show paper behind another layer.

Step by step

Each step shows what to do (left) and how it should look after (right).

Do this

Result

Step 1 of 10 Cut Cut out every piece: the front panel, fish and connector from sheet 1; the back panel, slider and two guide strips from sheet 2.
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Result

Step 2 of 10 Cut Bend the front panel along the dashed line through the slot. From the fold, cut out the slot rectangle, then open the panel flat.
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Result

Step 3 of 10 Valley fold Fold each guide strip in half along its long dashed line, so it is twice as thick.
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Result

Step 4 of 10 Glue Glue the two folded guides onto the yellow bands of the back panel, along the top and bottom of the slider path. (The back panel, the folded guides, the slider and the connector, shown larger.)
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Result

Step 5 of 10 Glue Fold the connector in half. Glue one half onto the marked spot on the slider, with the fold at the top edge of the spot.
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Result

Step 6 of 10 Place Lay the slider in the channel between the guides, PULL end sticking out on the right. Stand the connector's free half straight up.
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Step 7 of 10 Glue Rub glue on the guides only. Lay the front panel on top so the connector comes up through the slot, and press.
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Result

Step 8 of 10 Valley fold Fold the connector's free half down over the bottom edge of the slot. It now clips around the slot.
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Result

Step 9 of 10 Glue Rub glue on the connector's front half only and press the fish onto it. Keep glue off the card itself.
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Result

Step 10 of 10 Pull Pull the PULL tab: the fish swims across the sea. Push the tab back in and it swims home.

A sea-scene card with an orange fish in front of a slot; a yellow PULL tab sticks out on the right.

You made it!

Yours may look a little different. That is part of making things by hand.

Print the steps

Template

Print the template at 100% (Actual size), not "Fit to page". Then measure the check bar with a ruler: it must be 5 cm (2 in) long.

Sheet 1: front panel, fish and connector · 166 × 154 mm. The slot is 110 x 8 mm. Print at 100%.
Sheet 2: back panel, slider and guides · 171 × 207 mm. The slider is 165 mm (about 6.5 in) long. Print at 100%.

Print the template

If something goes wrong

The slider sticks.

Glue may have reached it. Pull it out gently while the glue is wet, or trim a little off its top and bottom edges so it runs freely.

The fish catches on the card.

Glue the fish to the connector only, and check that the fish does not touch the slot edges with glue.

The connector pulls off the slider.

Glue its whole back half to the marked spot and let it dry before you test the card.

The slider comes all the way out.

The connector must clip around the slot edge: the slot ends then stop it. Refold the connector over the bottom of the slot.

Helpful hints

Let every glued part dry for a few minutes before you pull the tab for the first time.
Fold the guides crisply: the channel needs room for the slider and the connector together.

An original PlayOwl project.