Friday, August 12, 2011

Gone Fishing!

I have wanted to make this magnetic fishing game since I first saw it at Frugal Decor Mom way back in April. On a recent trip to JoAnn's I found three coordinating fabric remnants for less than $5 and knew that they would be perfect! A few days later, while at Walgreen's, I spied several sand buckets on clearance for $0.50 each. You bet your booty I snatched up every last one that they had!

Finding such great deals on the supplies that I needed was the push that I needed to get to work. I immediately looked up the original tutorial here, traced the fish shape off of my computer screen and got to work tracing and cutting. I whipped together about 25 fish and stuffed them. Then I got stuck. I did not have coordinating thread to close up the hole from turning and stuffing the fish. I tried white thread and it looked awful! Also, I needed washers for the magnet to stick to.

The kids were so excited to try out the game and I would not let them play with the fish because I could see fiberfill all over the house! I received the motivation that I needed to get them put together when the neighbor invited the kids and I over and showed them how to cast and reel a fishing pole. This may not seem like much of a motivator, but this activity kept the kids entertained for over an hour! I ran out and bought coordinating thread and begged some washers off Randy's grandpa- he has an abundance of them in his garage and was happy to donate to my project!
Once I had all of my supplies, I spent the kids naptimes stitching the fish closed and adding the washers to their noses. They are so cute!



I was able to make enough fish and acquire enough buckets that I plan to give one to each of my nephews as well!


My kids were so excited to finally be able to play with their fish! Unfortunately they prefer to run around in nothing but underwear while at home (which I am ok with because it saves on laundry!) so I was unable to take any pictures! I plan to give one to my nephew for his birthday this weekend, so hopefully I will get some pictures then!

I have really enjoyed using my sewing machine and have plans to make more fish once I find some more fabric. I would also like to make some like these with the math/counting manipulatives like Counting Coconuts did on her blog. What projects have you finished lately?

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