Paper craft · Easy · about 25 minutes
Woven Paper Fish
Uses scissors · Uses glue · Adult help suggested
- Printed template on printer paper (Letter or A4), 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 in (Letter) or A4)
- Blunt-tip scissors
- Glue stick
- Crayons or markers
For the grown-up: Help with the slits: the fish is folded in half and each slit is cut from the fold up to the dot, never past it.
Safety: Use blunt-tip scissors and cut away from your fingers.
Blue dashes: valley fold (toward you). Pink dash-dot: mountain fold (away from you). Thick line with scissors: cut. Yellow: glue.
-
Start. Print the template at 100% (Actual size). Check that the 5 cm bar measures 5 cm. Lay the sheet printed side up.
-
1. Draw: Color the fish one color. Color each strip a different color.
-
2. Cut: Cut out the fish along its outside line.
-
3. Cut: Cut out the four strips along their lines.
-
4. Mountain fold: Fold the fish in half along the long dashed line, folding the bottom half behind.
-
5. Cut: Cut along each short line, from the fold up to the dot. Stop at the dot!
-
6. Unfold: Open the fish flat again. It has four slits across its body.
-
7. Weave: Weave strip 1 near the top: push it down through a slit, up through the next one, and so on.
-
8. Weave: Weave strip 2 just below it, starting the other way: under, over, under.
-
9. Weave: Weave strips 3 and 4 the same way, taking turns. Push the strips close together.
-
10. Glue: Dab glue under each strip end on the front and press it flat. Turn the fish over and do the same on the back.
-
11. Draw: Draw a big eye and a smile. Your fish is ready to swim!
If something goes wrong
- A slit went all the way to the edge. Put a small piece of tape over the end of the slit on the back, or glue a scrap of paper behind it.
- The strips are hard to push through. Bend the fish gently so the slit opens, or make the strips a little narrower.
- The checkerboard does not line up. Each strip starts the opposite way from the one above it: over first, then under first.