Today’s activity is a fun, paper craft activity to create a fish by weaving paper in and out!

We share a lot of fine motor skills activities and crafts on The SEN Resources Blog. This is because fine motor skills are important for helping children build up and strengthen those tiny muscles in their hands and fingers that they will need to do all sorts of things like learn to write, do up buttons, use cutlery correctly etc. Find out more about Fine Motor Skills here and our favourite Fine Motor Skills Activities here.

Paper Weaving Fish 

What do you need to make it? 

• Coloured paper, a range of colours ideally.
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pen

How do you make it? 

• Fold an A4 piece of paper in half length ways.
• Draw half the outline of a fish

• Cut out
• Unfold to make symmetrical fish shape

• Fold the fish in half so it’s head is touching it’s tail

• Cut a few 3 cm (ish) lines across the middle

• Unfold

• Cut out cm wide strips of coloured paper
• Weave the paper strips by alternating going under and over.

• Secure the ends with glue/tape.
• Draw eyes and a mouth on the fish
• Decorate the tail by collaging using any scraps of paper left from the craft

Enjoyed this activity? Why not try out other Paper Weaving Activities here.

What skills can children learn from paper weaving? 

• Fine motor skills– paper weaving is actually quite fiddly and is a great opportunity to stretch those fine motor skills.
• Hand eye coordination– again, weaving the paper in and out is great for developing hand eye coordination.
• Patterns– lovely opportunity for introducing and reinforcing what patterns are and how to make them, using different coloured strips of paper weaved in different orders.
• Following instructions– there’s a fair few stages to this craft, creating a good chance to practise following a sequence of instructions.