This paper plate fishbowl craft is amazingly fun and easy to make. It’s great for kids of all ages. Toddlers, preschoolers, even elementary aged kids can make a paper plate fish bowl as colorful and unique as they want.

This is great fine motor skills practice and a greater way to learn about the water and ocean.

Paper Plate Fish Bowl against a blue background, a paper plate cut to look like a fish bowl with sea weed, water, and fish

How To Mak A Paper Plate Fish Bowl

This simple paper plate fish bow craft requires minimal supplies and just a bit of imagination, kids will have a great time creating vibrant paper plate fish bowls with crayons and watercolors.

We love the versatility of crafting with paper plates! They are inexpensive and can become just about anything a child dreams. My son recently turned an ordinary paper plate into a colorful paper plate fish bowl using watercolor resist and crayons. It’s a cute craft that is perfect for kids of any age!

Practice fine motor schools, explore art mediums, animals, and water ecosystems with this craft.

Supplies Needed To Make Paper Plate Fish Bowl Craft

Paper Plate Fishbowl Craft- gather the supplies needed like a paper plate, crayola crayons, and water colors. — Grab your paper plate, crayons, and water colors!

Instructions To Make A Paper Plate Fish Bowl Craft

Step 1

After gathering supplies, invite your child to draw an underwater fishbowl scene on the paper plate. My child drew a fish, pebbles, plants, and what appears to be a floating donut!

Paper Plate Fish Bowl- first draw the background i.e fish, rocks, a cave, pebbles, and seaweed. — Draw the background. Draw a fish, some seaweed, pebbles, and even a home!

Step 2

Invite your child to cut a small curve from their paper plate to give it the look of a fishbowl. Older children may be able to do this independently, whereas younger children may need a line to trace.

Paper Plate Fish Bowl-draw the background i.e fish, rocks, a cave, pebbles, and seaweed. Then cut the top off to give it a bowl appearance. — Cut the top off the paper plate to give it a more bowl look.

Step 3

Next, invite your child to cover their plate with blue watercolor paint. The watercolor paint will absorb into the paper plate, but bead off the crayon. This is called watercolor resist.

Paper Plate Fish Bowl- paint the top of the "bowl" black and the rest of the paper plate blue to look like water. Then tape the black part to the bottom. — Paint the top of the bowl and tape it to the bottom to look like a stand and paint the bowl blue to make water.

Step 4

My son painted the small curve he cut from the top of the fishbowl gray. He straightened out one of the curved edges, then taped it to the back of the fishbowl as a base.

Perfect for preschool, you may wish to pair this paper plate fishbowl craft with some of these fun activities for kids!

Paper Plate Fish Bowl against a blue background, a paper plate cut to look like a fish bowl with sea weed, water, and fish and steps to make this fish bowl — This paper plate fishbowl craft is simple to make. It only has a few steps.

What I THink We’ll Do Next Time We Make Paper Plate Fish Bowls:

This paper plate fish bowl craft is so much fun to make. Next time though, I think I may get some extra items for my kids to make it a little more 3D.

I think using some tissue paper or crinkle paper for the seaweed would be fun. Maybe some fish stickers. Also, gluing sand or pebbles to the bottom I think would be a fun touch.

Just a different variation of this craft that I think would be fun. I tried it with paper to see how it would work, and I think it turned out great.

Paper Plate Fishbowl Craft

Requiring minimal supplies and just a bit of imagination, kids will have a great time creating a colorful paper plate fish bowl craft with crayons and watercolors.

Materials

white paper plates
watercolor paints and brush
crayons
scissors
tape

Instructions

After gathering supplies, invite your child to draw an underwater fishbowl scene on the paper plate. My child drew a fish, pebbles, plants, and what appears to be a floating donut!
Invite your child to cut a small curve from their paper plate to give it the look of a fishbowl. Older children may be able to do this independently, whereas younger children may need a line to trace.
Next, invite your child to cover their plate with blue watercolor paint. The watercolor paint will absorb into the paper plate, but bead off the crayon. This is called watercolor resist.
My son painted the small curve he cut from the top of the fishbowl gray. He straightened out one of the curved edges, then taped it to the back of the fishbowl as a base.

MORE FUN FISH CRAFTS FROM KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG:

This jellyfish in a bottle craft will let your kids have their very own “jellyfish” to carry around the house.
Want to learn how to draw a fish? It’s super easy!
We also have fish coloring pages.
You may want to check out these rainbow fish coloring pages as well.
How cute are these baby shark slime fishbowls?
I love this fast and low-mess cupcake liner jelly fish craft.
Use paper plates, googly eyes, and paint to make this paper plate goldfish craft.
We love the versatility of crafting with paper plates!

THE BIG BOOK OF KIDS ACTIVITIES

This toilet paper roll train craft is one of the featured kids crafts in our newest book, The Big Book of Kids Activities has 500 projects that are the bestest, funnest ever! Written for kids ages 3-12 it is the compilation of bestselling kids activities books perfect for parents, grandparents and babysitters looking for new ways to entertain kids. This toilet paper roll craft is one of over 30 classic crafts that use materials you have on hand that are featured in this book!

*This toilet paper rolls craft is one of several in our BIG BOOK of Kids Activities!*

Oh! And grab The Big Book of Kids Activities printable play calendar for a year’s worth of playful fun.

How did your paper plate fish bowl craft turn out? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.