This watercolor fish craft is so fun and easy for kids of all ages! Kids can paint their fish and background in any colors they like making each painting totally unique.
There are so many fun watercolor techniques for kids to try! Take a look at my collection of watercolor painting for kids for more fun and creative ideas.
For this project, there is a fish printable template to make this craft even easier for you. This template is available to my email subscribers as part of my free printable resource library. Sign up to my email list below to gain instant access.
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Create your own watercolor fish craft
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Supplies
- Printable fish template
- White cardstock
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolor paint
- Salt (kids can experiment with coarse or regular table salt)
- Paintbrushes
- Painter’s tape (optional)
- Wooden board (optional)
- Paint palette or small dish for paints
Instructions
1. First, print out your fish template onto white cardstock. Kids can either paint the fish first and then cut them out, or cut them out first and then paint them.
Younger kids will need help cutting out the fish.
2. Kids can choose the colors they want to paint their fish. Using 2-3 colors per fish is best and will keep the colors bright and not muddy. Remind kids to rinse their brush between each color.
I love how each fish turns out unique depending on the colors that kids choose!
Let your painted watercolor fish dry and set them aside while you move on to the background.
3. Get your watercolor paper ready. You can tape down your watercolor paper to a wooden board or a desk with painter’s tape. This will help keep the paper from buckling and moving around.
4. Decide on 2-3 colors of blue for your background. I like to test my colors on a scrap piece of paper first.
5. First, paint your paper with clean water, you want your paper to be wet but not soaking. You can always dab the paper a bit with paper towels if it’s too wet.
6. Paint your paper with your blue colors, letting the wet paper mix the colors together forming different patterns.
7. While your paper is still wet, sprinkle on your salt. Kids can try using coarse salt and regular table salt to see the different patterns each one makes.
It’s so fun for kids to watch the salt create interesting patterns!
Let your background dry completely before taking the tape off. You can leave the white around the edges or cut the white off.
8. Glue your fish down to your background using a glue stick.
For more details and different ideas of what you can do for your ocean background check out these 5 easy watercolor techniques for kids.
I love how bright and fun these watercolor fish are and how they really pop against the ocean blue background! The printable template makes this such a great art project for kids of all ages.
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We love creating and exploring with different art supplies and techniques. If you are looking for more art projects to try, take a look at our ultimate collection of amazing art projects for kids!
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Pin this watercolor fish craft for later
Easy Watercolor Fish Craft with Free Printable Template
Kids of all ages will love to make this fun watercolor fish craft! Use easy watercolor techniques and bright bold colors to create this underwater scene.
Materials
- Watercolor paper
- White Cardstock
- Watercolor paint
- Salt
- Painter's tape (optional)
- Printable fish template
Tools
- Paintbrushes
- Paint palette
- Wooden board (optional)
Instructions
- Print out your fish template onto white cardstock. You can either cut the fish out before painting them or wait until after.
- Using 2-3 colors, paint your fish using watercolor paint. Set them aside to dry.
- Get your watercolor paper ready. I like to tape our paper down to a wooden board with painter's tape, this helps to keep the paper from wrinkling and helps your paper to dry nice and flat.
If you don't have a wooden board or are doing this as a classroom activity, try taping the paper down to a desk, or just skip this part. - Paint your watercolor paper with clean water. You want your paper to be wet not soaking. If it's too wet, try dabbing it with a paper towel.
- Let kids choose 2-3 colors for the background. While the paper is still wet, start painting. Let the wet paper help to mix the colors together creating unique patterns.
- Sprinkle on salt while your paper is still wet. Kids can try using coarse salt or regular table salt, they will give different results.
It's fun for kids to watch the salt create cool patterns in the paint! - Let the paper dry completely and if you had it taped down, gently remove the tape.
- Glue down your fish to the background.
