mosaic tape fish

For our large group activity one day we read a book called "rainbow fish" or something like that (It is alread back at the library.  The fish in the book had beautful scales and fins that were all different colors.  Then we went to our table to make our own. 

First I taught the kids how to draw their own fish.  Then we cut them out.

Then with all of my colord tape we decorated our fishes.  This tape has been so wonderful to have in our preschool, the kids use it in a lot of their art and open ended play - but I also use it a lot in our activities.  You can buy colored tape in packages from a lot of school supplt stores.  I would reccomend NOT doing that - it is often more expensive and poor quality.  The best way to do it is to buy it at Michaels (or a store like that) - they have a ton of different colors that you buy individually - AND if you can manage it - use a 40% off coupon with each one.  You will have to go back several times - but if you are on a budget it is worth it.  Although don't buy the blue one - you can buy blue at the dollar store.

Anyways - back to the kids :)

Some kids ripped the tape, some cut.  After about 10  minutes of them cutting their own tape, I started to cut a bunch of squares of different colors and putting them in the middle of the table for them to grab.

This was a great activity for drawing, cutting, fine motor for the ripping and finding the edge each time (it is hard on those fingers), and creativity.

We added them to our ocean as well.