Anyone looking to work on name recognition, shapes, colors, numbers, letters, or anything involving matching? This is for you! …and your little learner of course. With very little prep, you can have an ocean of learning at your fingertips in minutes.

Materials:

“Fish and Pond”

• Index cards or cardstock (something a tad sturdier than paper)
• A bin, box or container (diaper boxes or paper box lids work great) …this will be your pond
• A piece of paper
• A marker
• Paperclips

Homemade “Fishing Rod” (below) or a bath toy fishing rod with a magnetic end

• A stick
• Tape
• String
• A smaller magnet

For the sake of explaining the activity, today, we went fishing for the letters in our family member’s names.

Step 1 – Begin by creating a mat or matching board. I wrote “MOMMY” on a piece of paper in my simplest uppercase print and added a picture to help my little guy better identify whose name he was fishing to find. Bonus: He can color the picture to look like Mommy later too!

Step 2 – Now write a letter, number, shape, etc. on an index card. The number of index cards you use will depend on what you are fishing for. For example, I used 5 different index cards to write out each letter of “M-O-M-M-Y.” Then added a touch more engagement by cutting each card into fish shapes—totally unnecessary, but cute!

Step 3 – Clip a paperclip on each index card.

Step 4 – Mix up the index cards and lay them in your pond.

Step 5 – Grab your play rod if you have one, or make one like this… Take your stick and tape a piece of string (about a foot long) to the top. Then tape or tie a magnet to the opposing end of the string. …What?! It’s that easy!!!

Step 6 – Stick the fishing rod with the magnetic end down into the pond and sit back as your little learner falls in love with Fishing for Knowledge!  As your kiddo catches a “fish,” match it to the mat one letter at a time to hone in on the concept you are focusing on.

Here’s what it looks like:

Toddlers and Preschoolers: This can be used to work on any concept, as long as there is a mat to go along with the concept being taught.  I have used it for letters in the alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors too.  With this age group, attention spans vary, so keep it simple with just a few “fish” at a time. Always supervise, especially if you are making your own fishing rod with a stick—OUCH!

In the Classroom (Kindergarten and Beyond): Fishing for sight words, vocabulary words, parts of speech… truly this applies to nearly any concept. It can be used in a literacy center or for indoor recess too. If you want to add an additional dimension, students can fish for a particular word, then write the word in a sentence to show that they are comprehending the meaning of the word.

No matter how you choose to Fish for Knowledge, smile, because your little learner is working hard and learning each day.