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.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. See my disclosure policy to read more. Adult supervision is required for each step of activities, recipes, crafts, and games with children. Small parts are a choking hazard.
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
- 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
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 fun game identifying numbers and letters
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.
More Fun Ideas to Share
Let’s Hang Out
Printable Instructions
DIY Magnetic Fishing Game
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
