Paper fish aquarium

Exotic fish wall decoration

Many children dream of having their own aquarium with a tropical feel and featuring all the colours of the rainbow, but their parents aren’t always so keen! So, it’s nice to know that there are alternatives that provide at least the same amount of colour and are easy to make at home – such as this paper aquarium. Paper fish making is an easy pastime for kids, and they can decorate them in all the colours that you would find in a real aquarium, simply by using the edding FUNTASTICS fibre pens for children. With their tiny 3D concertina bodies, the fish look quite impressive, and there’s plenty of fun to be had colouring in the heads and fins. Funtastics fibre pens are robust and specially designed for small hands, offering children aged 3 and upwards endless drawing fun. These pens are available in a choice of 18 colours.

Categories: Craft ideas for kids
Kids' room
Products: Fibre and felt pens
Materials: Paper, carton and cardboard
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Downloads: Images (ZIP)

Step-by-step

Step 1

You can see all the materials at a glance in our photo. For this project, we’ve used the edding 14 Funtastics fibre pens for children in a variety of bright colours. To make the fish heads and the little fins, we’ve got a template sheet that you can print out.

Step 2

Cut out the shapes and place your templates on the white paper. Draw round the templates in pencil again and again until you have enough fish to fill your aquarium. Remember that each fish needs several fins.

Step 3

Next, cut out all the heads and fins.

Step 4

We’re using coloured paper for the three-dimensional bodies, so make sure it isn’t too thick to fold. Cut out pieces of paper for the body. The ends need to be the same width as the head, but they can be as long as you want. Now fold the pieces of paper into concertinas.

Step 5

Here comes the fun part – the colouring! Using the edding 14 Funtastics, colour in the fish heads and octopuses to your heart's content. Use black to draw big wide eyes and red for the cheeks. You can also add a cute mouth, striped or dotted – it’s up to you how much imagination you use. You can also jazz up the fins with bright patterns.

Step 6

Glue a concertina firmly to the back of each head, then glue on the fins the same way.

Step 7

Naturally, the aquarium (or rather, light-blue paper!) also needs to be suitably decorated. After all, your fish need plants, corals and lots of other things to help them feel at home. To complete the image, add streams of bubbles in blue – again, Funtastics are just the right sort of fibre pen for this.

Step 8

Finally, stick the fish onto the background. First, position the head and then form a gentle curve with the body or pull it to make it a little longer. Stick down the tail fins – and you’ve now created an amusing aquatic scene. Any gaps in the aquarium can, of course, be filled in with more drawings or by attaching more fish.