Paper Crafting: Bendy Fish

Whether you need something to do with the kids or some inspiration for your next print project, here’s a hands-on activity that can serve as a creative break for your whole family. Below are some resources to aid you in making this paper bendy fish.

For an added challenge, try to make the fish without using the template. 

Make several fish and go on a fishing trip afterwards. (We did!)

How-To Video

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Download the template and print it off. (Download above.)
2. Color the template. If you have design programs on your computer, you could also color the fish using one of those before printing it off.
3. Cut out the pieces of the fish along the solid blue lines. Ignore the lines at the center of the fish body at this stage. Also, make sure not to accidentally crumple up and throw away the smaller pieces. (When testing the template, we accidentally did that a couple of times.) When you are done cutting, you should have (1) fish body, (2) circle eyes, (2) D-shaped fins, (1) heart-shaped tail fin, and (1) large D-shaped tongue.
4. Fold along the dashed pink lines, similarly to how you fold a paper airplane. Unfold the outside two panels, but keep it folded down the middle.
5. Cut down each of the solid blue lines in the middle of the fish. These allow the fish to bend, so make sure to cut all the way to the fold or slightly past it. If you don’t, the fish won’t bend fluidly. Fold the fish (don’t glue yet), and test out the fluidity. If it seems stiff, make the cuts a little deeper.
6. Begin glueing the fish. Start with the body. Put glue on one of the outside folded sections of the fish and overlap the other outside panel so that the body forms a triangular shape. For the rest of the pieces, we recommend gluing the heart-shaped tail and eyes and taping the two side fins and tongue. Feel free to try different strategies.
7. Build a fishing rod and go fishing! See video below…