Young children enjoy watching fish in an aquarium and learning more about how fish live underwater. Doing art projects based on fish in an aquarium teaches children about habitats, environments and art concepts. With some basic materials, these art projects can be done in the classroom as a group. Tying in science concepts such as parts of the fish helps encourage students to add more details to their artwork.
Underwater Fish
Have students sit around the classroom fish aquarium, or pictures of fish aquariums, and make a list of all the things the fish have within their environment, or habitat. Make a list on the whiteboard or chalk board at the front of the room. Explain to students they will create their own aquarium with paper, crayons and watercolor paints.
Provide each student with a sheet of 9-inch by 12-inch white paper and a selection of crayons. Have students draw outlines of the fish and various other items within their aquarium. Make sure to only draw the outlines of items and not color in. Encourage the students to press hard with their crayons, making dark lines and include all the details of their fish including scales and eyes.
Remove crayons from tables and pass out watercolors along with water and various sizes of paintbrushes. Have students paint over the top of the crayon outlines and fill in their aquarium. The crayon will push away the paint allowing it to show through the watercolor paint.
Display the aquarium paintings around the room for others to see.
Window Fish
Gather materials needed for the art lesson, which includes black construction paper, clear contact paper, scissors and various colors of tissue paper. Have students look at the classroom fish aquarium or images of fish for inspiration for the activity.
With the black construction paper, have students cut out the shape of a fish. When they are happy with the shape, have them cut out the inside of the shape making sure to leave an inch boarder around all sides. If students are unable to do this step, offer some help.
Have students place their cut-out outline of a fish onto the sticky side of a square of clear contact paper and press on. Use the scissors to cut out the fish from the contact paper. This will be challenging for younger students, so if some are feeling frustrated, make sure to help.
The student will be left with a black construction outline of a fish with clear sticky contact paper in the middle. Tear small pieces of colored tissue paper and press onto the sticky contact paper. Fill the entire fish with bits of tissue paper until there is no sticky contact paper left.
Display fish on a window in the classroom and create a window aquarium for the class to enjoy.
