Homemade Fun! Make Your Own Fishing Game

I saw a homemade fishing game in a book from a library and thought it was really cool! The mom's group I belong to was having a luau and one of the other mom's saw a similar one online so I thought it would be a fun project to make for that and for my son to play with at home. Little did I know, that it also fit with my son's Penguin Winter land Birthday Party theme as well (ice fishing!).
I modified this to suit me and what I had available. I used Scrapbook Plus computer program to print the fish and other sea life and also printed some from the Internet ~ just type in free fish clip art or similar. I cut out all the images and then glued them to construction paper (you could also use card stock). This makes them a little stronger/sturdier. Then I cut them out again, laminated them with CLEAR CONTACT PAPER, and cut them out one last time. From Dollar Tree, I bought colorful paperclips. I inserted one on each animal mouth. Then I took my son's plastic golf club, pulled out the bottom so it was just the stick, tied a piece of yarn to it, and then attached an old, strong enough magnet I happened to have on hand. You could use any kind of stick for the fishing pole, just keep in mind that if the kids are younger, you may want to stick with plastic! Lastly, I placed a small, blue blanket (water- he, he) inside a blue crate that I had and then added the fish/sea life. Any large enough container would work. Now you are ready to let the kid's go fishing! The magnet "catches" the paperclipped fish.

For ice fishing, I used a white laundry basket (snowy ice) with a blue blanket (water) placed inside. For older children, you could also place white poster or foam board over the top with a hole cut in the center.