Toddler Activities: Toddler Fish Pond {Summer Kick-Off}

Go Fishing This Summer to Learn Shapes, Numbers & Colors

By: Deborah Pace Rowley

Here is an activity that you can use all summer long to teach your toddler shapes, numbers and colors.

Get Ready: Print out the three sets of fish below. Print them on card stock or laminate them for added durability. Attach a paper clip to the end of each fish’s tail. Then make a magnet wand or fishing pole.

The magnet wand is easier to manipulate for younger children 18 months to 2 ½ or 3 years old. I hot glued two magnets to each side of a ruler. With the magnet wand, your child doesn’t have to worry about the swinging fishing line which makes it more difficult to pick up fish.

For older toddlers 3 to 4 years old, make a fishing pole. I used a stick from my back yard but you can also use a dowel rod. I attached yarn for the fishing line and then hot glued two magnets to the end of the yarn. This makes fishing more challenging and more fun for older toddlers.

Play: Lay out the set of fish that you want to use on the floor or table. I usually begin with colors and then progress to shapes and save numbers for last. In the beginning, lay out the fish, facing up, an inch or so apart and have your child catch or pick up one fish with the wand. Then have your child repeat after you what color or shape or number they caught. With lots of repetition, your child will soon be able to tell you what color, shape or number they caught all by themselves!

For an added challenge, you can tell your child to catch the “red fish” or the “number 7” fish or the fish with the “triangle on his tummy”. You can also turn the fish upside down and let your child catch a “surprise fish” and turn it over to tell you what it is. Or they can keep fishing until they catch the “purple fish” or the “fish with the square on its tummy” or any other specific fish that you decided on at the beginning.

Another variation involves playing with the colored fish and the shape fish at the same time. Let your child catch the shape with the same color of the fish that you hold up. Or play like concentration where your child tries to match up a color and a shape when they are both facing upside down. You can even lay out four Swedish fish and have your child catch the matching fish with the number 4 on its tummy. Or lay out three goldfish crackers and let your child gobble them up if he catches the #3 fish correctly. There are so many ways to play! Come up with some on your own.

Click on each link below to print your own fish!

Go Fish - Colors

Go Fish - Shapes

Go Fish - Numbers

Thanks to Kristen at www.lovetwoteach.com for her cute fish images. Check out her site for other free clip art designed for teachers. Happy Fishing!!