Goldfish CNY Craft

The Chinese believe that goldfish bring good luck, abundance and great fortune to their keepers. In homes where goldfish are kept, residents are said to live in harmony. Here's a fun way to admire goldfish without having to change their water, or remember to feed them.



Supplies needed for this craft:

Tissue paper
Goldfish template (click here)
Glue
Scissors
Stickers
Glitter (optional)

For the easy toddler proof version, I printed off the template from this site.



I then gave Josie a sheet of decorative stickers and let her stick them all over the fish template.



At the time that we worked on this craft, she was down to one hand and getting the stickers on the paper was entertaining. She LOVED it. You could also take the fish template and use colored pencils or crayons to decorate your goldfish. We just happened to have a lovely sheet of butterfly stickers available. It was an easy way to keep Josie entertained while Emma and I worked on the more elaborate version.



For a more elaborate goldfish, you can follow these steps.

Step 1: Print off 2 copies of this gold fish template from this site. I put orange construction paper in our printer when I printed off the template.

Step 2: Take one of the templates and cut out the center portion.



Step 3: For the scales, cut long strips of colored tissue paper and lay the tissue paper strips vertically over the cut out portion of the fish template. Tape or glue in place. Be sure to overlap and alternate colors with the longer strands hanging down near the tail area.



Step 4: Take the 2nd template and place an outline of glue around the edges and place over top of the first template.



Step 5: Let the glue dry, then trim the excess tissue paper from around the fish. We decided not to trim the excess tissue paper hanging down from his tail area because we liked the way it looked. We also used gold glitter around his outline to embellish our fish a bit more. Our gold fish are hanging on our CNY tree in the sunroom, but they would also look nice hanging in a window.



Happy crafting!!

We're attending the Chinese New Year Gala Show at the Forest Hills Fine Arts Center Saturday night. We can't wait. Expect lots of pictures later this weekend.