Gone Fishing!

Here's another very quick and easy snack to make with the children.  It goes right along with the "fish bowl" snack I blogged about a few days ago!  This is another great activity to make sequence cards for.* 
Here's what you will need:  goldfish crackers, pretzel sticks, peanut butter (or sun butter if allergies are a concern) and a laminated blue paper 'pond' for the fish to swim in! 

Now, here comes the fun part!  Place some goldfish crackers on each child's 'pond' and show the children how to 'fish' for the goldfish!  Dip a pretzel stick (the fishing pole) in peanut butter and go fishing by sticking the peanut butter end on to a goldfish cracker!  My two year old class used to LOVE this activity and would do it over and over and over!

The interesting part is that in every group there always seems to be that one child who simply insists on eating the fishing pole each time! This would explain why I offer quite a few pretzel sticks for each child! 

 Of course, you can add math concepts into this activity by encouraging the children to sort different colored fish crackers, match colored fish crackers or by providing some fish crackers and some other shape cracker to sort. 

This is a pretty nice fine motor work out on its own; but counting, sorting, matching or patterning can all be worked into this easily!

Currently, we are in the middle of repainting our kitchen...so with a kitchen torn apart, sadly enough, this really could have been my snack tonight! But, since I had no children to help me "go fishing" the dog with a few challenges and his accomplice were both perfectly happy to participate in the fishing game!

Yep, who cares if you don't have thumbs...just look cute and soon enough that goldfish cracker will fall into your mouth!

And just like kids, they move too fast for me to get a photo of them actually EATING a fish cracker! :)

*If you would like to make your own sequence card for this activity, feel free to use any of the first 5 photos in THIS POST (no other post please). 

1 fish, 2 fish...I ate the blue fish!

Here's a quick and easy way to make picture steps for an easy snack...an edible fish bowl and fish!  I simply used clip art to create a sequenced step by step instruction board for making  a "fish in a bowl" snack.  I cut out the steps, glued them to a poster board strip and laminated the instructions.

Picture sequences can be used for just about any step-by-step project.  I tend to use them for simple snacks or art projects.  Visually showing each step helps children understand that there is a sequence to follow to complete the project.

This snack requires a rice cake, peanut butter (or sun butter if allergies are a concern), fish crackers and a plastic knife.  The children gather all the needed items, spread peanut butter on the rice cake and place fish crackers on the peanut butter.

An adult can help guide a child through "reading" the picture sequence before beginning.  Then the child can gather things and begin to work.  An adult can then casually point out each step as the child works to help the child begin to understand the sequenced activity.  This can become a routine independent "center" for children or a small group activity with several children. 

These picture sequence cards can be a great way to encourage receptive and expressive language, sequencing and following directions.  When the children have put their snack together, they can place it on the blue fish bowls (shown below) and then eat the fish crackers. 

I am not sure where I got the fish bowl pattern, but I'm sure you could find similar patterns on-line.  I simply copied it onto blue construction paper and laminated it.

Of course, after the sequenced part of the activity, the children may chose to do more with the project.   The children may sort the fish into color groups, make a pattern, count the fish or pretend the fish are swimming in the fish bowl!   

For children with language and learning delays, presenting this activity several days in a row will help the children understand the full concept.  After watching friends or adults expand on the activity by sorting or counting, they may be more inclined to attempt some of these extensions as well!