Paper-plate fish and the running-away talk
Kids talk more with busy hands. While a paper-plate fish dries, trade stories about wanting to run from something hard and what happened when you didn't.
- Time
- 40 min
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 4 to 9
- Where
- Kitchen table
What you need
- Two paper plates per person
- Kid scissors with rounded tips
- Glue stick or tape
- Markers or crayons, plus scraps of colored paper or tissue for scales
- A pencil for the back of the fish
Before you start
- Small bits stay up high if anyone under 3 is around: googly eyes, sequins, buttons and caps go back in a closed box out of reach when you're done.
- Rounded-tip kid scissors for kids. You cut anything thick, and the plate stays flat on the table while anyone cuts.
- Glue sticks over hot glue. If you want hot glue, that's a grown-up-only job.
Steps
- Cut the mouth and tail. Cut a pie-slice wedge from the plate for the mouth. Glue the wedge on the opposite side as the tail.
- Decorate while you talk. Add an eye and scales. While you work, ask if they've ever wanted to run from something hard.
- Tell one of yours. Share a true, kid-sized time you wanted to run from something hard, how it felt and what happened.
- Listen to theirs. Let them tell one. Say back what you heard without lecturing or fixing.
- Write a turn-around on the back. On the back, each of you writes one hard thing you're avoiding and one small first step.
- Hang them up and check back. Hang both fish up. Pick a day this week to check how each first step went.
If it stalls
- If they say "nothing" is hard, try a specific one: "Is there anything at school you'd skip if you could?"
- If they get upset telling it, put the fish down and just listen. The craft can wait.
First steps taken this week
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date