DIY Magnetic Fishing Game

An easy-to-make magnetic fishing game provides hours of fun playing and learning for kids. Keep the kids entertained while learning numbers, colors, addition, and more. A great hand-eye coordination game.

magnetic fishing game for kids
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How to Make a Magnetic Fishing Game

Games and activities are a great way to make learning fun. Make this fun marble run to teach kids about design and engineering. This Hershey’s Kiss memory matching game is a fun way to practice long-term memory. Ring toss games are great games for practicing accuracy and hand-eye coordination.

Learning through play is an excellent way to get the kids excited about learning. This particular magnetic fishing game is a great idea for teaching kids letters, numbers, colors, and hand-eye coordination.

What You’ll Love about this Fishing Game for Kids

  • It’s easy to put together
  • This game is a fun learning game.
  • It provides hours of entertainment

Supplies Needed

fishing game supplies
  • Foam Paper Fish – I tried to make this game as easy as possible, so I bought pre-cut foam fish shapes. To save money, you can cut your own fish out of foam paper
  • Round Magnets – I found 3/4 inch round magnets.
  • Strong cord or twine – This will be used as your string to catch the fish. Make sure that you can’t easily break the string.
  • Wooden Dowel – I went shopping for this at my local hardware store. I found that the longer wooden dowels were in better supply at my hardware store and less expensive, as well.
  • Eye hook – This will be used to screw into the dowel so the string can be better secured. Some people just tie a knot around the dowel with their string, but I like this extra step in securing the string so it does not slip off
  • Glue – Like a strong super glue or super weld. You’ll want a strong glue that will hold the two magnets together. I used a super weld glue to really secure them together with the string in the middle. It is another level of securing the pieces so parts don’t easily come apart
  • Paper clips – This will be used to attach to the fish. You’ll want to glue these on because they are small parts and you can never be too careful
  • Markers for coloring and decorating the fish
  • Optional – Metal washer for another type of game explained below

Instructions

Screw the eye hook into one end of the wooden dowel

making a fishing game for kids

Cut the string to the length that you think will work for your purposes. You’ll want a shorter string if you are doing this on top of a table, and a longer string if the kids will be standing up to catch their fish

Attach one end of your twine or rope by tying a knot through the eye hook

making a fishing game for kids

Put some of the strong glue on a magnet, set the other end of the rope into the glue and add the other magnet to the glue. You should have string sandwiched between two magnets with a strong glue like super glue or SuperWeld

making a fishing game for kids

Glue paper clips to the mouth area of the fish

Decorate the fish – You can add numbers or letters to the fish for a fun game identifying numbers and letters

magnetic fishing game for kids

Playing the Game

There are several ways you can play the fishing game with kids

  • Call out a color and ask the kids to catch the fish that matches the color you called.
  • Put numbers on the fish. Catch two fish and add the numbers together for a quick lesson in adding. You can also do this by subtracting numbers.
  • With numbered fish, have kids catch them in order from 1-10
  • Put letters on the fish. Call out a letter and have kids catch the fish with that letter
  • Call out a word and ask kids to catch the fish in order to spell the word
  • Practice hand-eye coordination by asking them to catch a specific fish
  • Turn the fish over and turn the game into a memory game. Ask where the fish is with the letter “A” or number “1” and so on

Variations

Teaching kids to cast with a real fishing pole game

Here’s an outdoor fishing game idea to bust boredom. My kids love fishing with their Papa. But, when Papa isn’t around, and it’s a nice day, I’ll draw an ocean in the driveway with chalk. I add sea creatures to the chalk ocean. I remove the hooks from their fishing poles and attach rubber toys or heavy nuts instead. The kids fish for the chalk-colored fish for hours. Sometimes, I put numbers on the fish, crabs, lobsters, jellyfish, and whales and make a numbers game of it. This helps them in their casting skills and accurate aiming.

chalk fish

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    DIY Magnetic Fishing Game

    A fun magnetic fishing game for kids to play
    Prep Time10 minutes
    drying and decorating20 minutes
    Yield: 1
    Author: Melissa Haines

    Materials

    • Foam Paper Fish
    • Round Magnets
    • Strong cord or twine I used
    • Wooden Dowel I used a three foot long dowel
    • Eye hook
    • Glue
    • Paper clips
    • markers for decorating

    Instructions

    • Screw the eye hook into one end of the wooden dowel
    • Cut the string to the length that you think will work for your purposes. You'll want a shorter string if you are doing this on top of a table, and a longer string if the kids will be standing up to catch their fish
    • Attach one end of your twine or rope by tying a knot through the eye hook
    • Put some of the strong glue on a magnet, set the other end of the rope into the glue and add the other magnet to the glue. You should have string sandwiched between two magnets with a strong glue like super glue or SuperWeld
    • Glue paper clips to the mouth area of the fish
    • Decorate the fish – You can add numbers or letters to the fish for a game in learning numbers and letters

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