• Menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

Little Bins Members

Little Bins for Little Hands

Simple Science and STEM for Every Day

Header Right

  • STEM
    • Jr Engineer
    • Coding
    • STEM CHALLENGES
  • Science Activities
    • Environmental Science
    • Physics
    • Geology
    • Space
    • Ocean
    • Weather
    • Rainbows
  • Seasonal
    • Fall
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter
    • Christmas
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Spring
    • St Patricks Day
    • Easter
    • Earth Day
    • Summer
    • 4th of July
  • Art
    • Famous Artists
    • Process Art
    • 10+ Easy Homemade Paint Recipes For Kids
  • Slime
  • LEGO
  • Shop
  • Join
    • Little Bins Club
    • Library Club

Mobile Menu

  • STEM
    • Jr Engineer
    • Coding
    • STEM CHALLENGES
  • Science Activities
    • Environmental Science
    • Physics
    • Geology
    • Space
    • Ocean
    • Weather
    • Rainbows
  • Seasonal
    • Fall
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Winter
    • Christmas
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Spring
    • St Patricks Day
    • Easter
    • Earth Day
    • Summer
    • 4th of July
  • Art
    • Famous Artists
    • Process Art
    • 10+ Easy Homemade Paint Recipes For Kids
  • Slime
  • LEGO
  • Shop
  • Join
    • Little Bins Club
    • Library Club

Easy Kids Magnetic Fishing Game Math Activity

Magnet Fishing Game for Kids Math Activity Letter Activity

If I make a lesson or activity into a game he will play it! Add some dice and turn taking and we have a solid activity to keep us busy for a few minutes at least. This DIY fishing sensory play game has a lot of variety for many ages. Easy to make and budget friendly, all kids like to fish! Plus, it is a sensory bin too! Many skills were used for this play including letter and number recognition, fine motor and taking turns skills and pretend play! I have since left it out for open ended play on his magnet discovery table!

fishing sensory play duo

I simply free-handed a fish shape. Not the best, but it is recognizable and cut out 26 of them. I did use a heavier weight card stock from my scrap booking collection (best it is used for something!). I attached dollar store paper clips to each fish and gave them a letter sticker and a smile. Happy fish make for a happy activity, right? The bin is filled with aquarium rocks, gems, magnetic translucent discs, dragonfly erasers, rocks, cool looking pipe cleaners and some tongs.

fishing game duo

The first part of the fishing sensory play game is alphabet recognition and a bit of I Spy! Calling out letters, searching for letters, picking out letters was all part of the fishing game. This is a little fishing pole that came with a Melissa & Doug fishing puzzle. We have since used it for many activities other than the puzzle (which he never liked)! He would rather take turns so that’s what we did until we had a big pile of fish and an empty pond bottom sensory bin to explore! I try not to push to much with the letters as it really turns him off. Right now we are just focusing on remembering the letters! Sometimes we try out the sounds. However, the real focus is on having fun and showing him activities he can do independently or cooperatively with another person.

fishing game triofishing game trio 2

The next part of the fishing sensory play game was to feed the fish! After we emptied the pond, we rolled the dice to see how many bites of food each chosen fish would get and counted the pieces out. The goal was to use the tongs but they frustrate him quickly. I wanted him to enjoy the game so we used our hands for most of it, and I modeled the tongs on my turn! When we chose a fish to feed, we called out the letter and worked a little on the sound of that letter. Again we did take turns until we had all the fish fed, all 26 of them!

fishing game cover

Here they are, smiling, well fed fish! Not only did we work on skills but we enjoyed fishing together and engaging in some sensory play with the pond bin. Games like this are super simple to make at home on a small budget. The biggest item is your imagination and that is free! Hands on games are really popular with Liam!

 

 

Previous Post: « Simple Back to School Alphabet Activities for Kids
Next Post: Sensory Animal Mazes for Developing Pre-Writing Skills »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JDaniel4's Mom

    September 5, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    What a fun way to work with numbers! I love the fishing theme.

  2. littlebins

    September 5, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    Fishing is a good way for us to make learning fun that’s for sure!

  3. Theresa--Capri + 3

    September 5, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    I love this idea! It is so fun and colorful. Please stop by and share this on Artsy Play Wednesday (along with any other arts, crafts and play posts you’d like to share).

  4. OneMommy

    September 7, 2013 at 1:53 am

    My son loves fishing! Pinning this one for later!

  5. Lauren

    September 10, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    How fun! Thank you for sharing at our Pinning for Play link party!

  6. Carrie

    September 13, 2013 at 10:58 am

    A fun way to learn letters! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

Primary Sidebar

We have a PASSION for SLIME, and are dedicated to helping you make the best slime ever. Questions? Just ask us!

We also LOVE science and all things STEM. Join us on our journey to discover just how cool science can be. Want to know how to get started? Click on any of the images or menu options!

Site Footer

Sign Me Up!

Take our FREE 5-Day STEM Challenge with boredom busting activity ideas for kids!

Privacy Policy