Swimmy by Leo Lionni is a wonderful little book that I enjoy reading to my kids! The book helps to remind kids about the importance and benefits of teamwork! In order to avoid being eaten, Swimmy, a little black fish, and a school of little red fish work together to swim in a formation that looks like one giant fish – with Swimmy as the eye. I just love the message that is portrayed within the book!
I have read this book to all of my kids during their kindergarten year. This year, with my youngest twins, I decided to incorporate a fun fish stamping craft to go along with the book! We had loads of fun and I love how our craft turned out!
Swimmy Fish Stamping Directions:
First we made fish shaped bottle top stamps by cutting out foam fish shapes and adhering them to the bottle tops. (Stamps are shown in the image above.) I drew a big fish shape onto white paper and the boys stamped fish inside the big fish drawn on the paper.
They continued stamping until the big fish was full of little red fish. Then we used black ink to stamp Swimmy as the eye of the giant fish!
The final step is to cut out the fish and glue it to blue paper!
Alternative Swimmy Craft:
One of my boys wanted to make the blue paper look like water so we grabbed some blue and white paint and some bubble wrap.
Here is Swimmy in the bubbly water!
Which do you prefer?
…Swimmy in the plain blue water or Swimmy in the bubbly blue water?
If you don’t already own Swimmy, be sure to look for it at your local library!
Looking for more picture book fun? Be sure to visit the iHomeschool Network for A Book and a Big Idea, a blog hop where iHn bloggers share some of their favorite picture books and coordinating enrichment activities!
Bb for Butterfly: MFW Kindergarten Printables
Thanks Desiree! It was alot of fun!
Yep, I saw the idea of cutting and gluing the fish onto the page. In fact, I think we did that one year! But, the stamping is much easier and more fun!
This looks like fun. I like the fish in the bubbly background, but both work!
Oh, we just read Swimmy last week along with our Oo:Octopus unit for MFW. I wish I had seen this post earlier. What a neat idea. I had seen the idea of gluing on little fish in the shape of a fish, but I like this way better. I have never made stamps like this. Gonna have to try it.
Thanks! We have made all kinds of stamps this way! Love being able to recycle stuff in a fun way!
What a great idea! I love your simple way of making the stamps with products we always have on hand. Looks like fun too!
Thanks Jodi! We try to have a lil bit of fun! {grins}
Wow! I love this. What a great idea! Your kids must have had a blast.