Prep Time: 10 to 20 minutes    Lesson Time:  45 minutes to 1 hour  Age: Pre-K to 8

Area of Study: Art, Science

Summary

Background/objectives: Students will learn the art of fish printing and will gain a greater understanding of external fish anatomy.

Materials:

Paint, plastic fish, paintbrushes, paper, newspapers/tarps

Preparation:

Gather the supplies. Practicing your own fish print prior to the lesson may be helpful, but not necessary.

Procedure:

1. Put newspaper or other protective covering on tables

2. Ask the class what they know about fish anatomy (specificity will depend on the age group)

3. Before letting the kids do the activity themselves, demonstrate fish printing yourself. Emphasize that they don’t need to use a lot of paint. Just one coating usually will do!

4. As they are making the fish prints, you can talk to your class about fish anatomy, depending on their age.

Assessment

Tips and Tricks:

Do not let the kids control the amount of paint they get because they’ll use it all up very fast.

How to implement for…

Pre-K: They probably won’t be able to get anything out of this besides as an art activity

1-2: You can talk to them about scales and gills

3-4: This age group can already knows the importance of gills, so it is useful to review that with them. It’s also possible to talk to them about the specific types of fins (dorsal, pectoral, pelvic, caudal)

5-8: They’re old enough to understand a lot of the specifics, such as the history of fish printing and its importance as an art form. They can name species with binomial nomenclature. Also, they can use rulers to determine standard length (nose to end of tail) and total length (nose to end of the caudal fin).

Resources: