Day 491- Gotta Go Fishin'

My little nephew, Wyett loves to fish! So for his 3rd birthday i decided to make him a indoor fishing set so he won't get out of practice during winter :)

 

 

After making the very easy fish and fishing pole and watching him play with it over skype  I thought maybe other people might be interested in how to make such a easy (for you) and fun (for the kids) toy!

 

 

 

 You will need:
-Socks: new or old! i used little kids size (3T-ish)but you can use bigger depending how big you want your fish.
-Cotton Balls: Or other socks
-Magnets:  big/ stong ones (i got like a 50 pack at walmart for pretty cheap)
-Googly eyes. or buttons
-Dowel or stick of some kind
-String
-Hot Glue.

(in the picture there are beads, i thought maybe i would use them in with the stuffing, but decided not to because fish would've been too heavy)

 

FISH-
Put a magnet in the sock (mouth area) then stuff it with cotton balls (or socks). i used the line that goes on your toe for the mouth just flipped it so it looked like a smile.

Can you see the magnet?

After the fish is stuffed i sewed it closed, but only because it was going to a 3 year old boy. You can just tie it off with a piece of string if you want

 <  SEW





                                                               TIE >

 

Then glue (or sew, if buttons) on the eyes. 

See above!

 

Now you should have a cute little fish!

BTW- The cuter the socks, the cuter the fish!

 

 

 

 

FISHIN' POLE-  (this is just the easiest way i could figure out to keep the string secure)

 

Take the dowel (have string handy) and put an inch or inch and a half line of hot glue from the end. then quickly wrap sting around the dowel (when wrapping start at the bottom and go to the end)

 

 

 

 

 

HOOK-

This was trail and air for me- i started with two magnets and it was not quite enough power to "hook" a fish. So i did three!

And originally i wrapped a string around the magnets a few times trying to connect it...Fail! 

It was mostly a fail because there was so much string it wouln't catch a fish.

So i found an easier way... 

Take 2 magnets and put hot glue on one, then place the end of the string on the glue and squish the two magnets together. (hot glue and string sandwich)

 

For the 3rd, you put the sting on top of what will be the middle magnet and glue another magnet on top. it is kinda hard to explain...  I hope you can figure it out from the picture!

 

After all the glue is dry....its time to go fishing!!

 

Wyett loves playing with his fish!

It made me so happy to watch him and hear him "look, i caught one!" as he then showed us his fish on skype!

His mom said that he puts the fish in a bucket and fishes into the bucket, like it is the lake!

 

 

 

      I hope your kids like this "indoor fishing" just as much as Wyett!