Simple Button Fish Craft for Kids

Have a variety of spare craft buttons laying around in your craft supplies? Here’s a fun way for you and your kids to turn them into a simple button fish craft

I don’t know what it is about fish crafts, but I’m obsessed. I’ve had a big jar of colorful craft buttons in different sizes sitting in our craft supply closet for a while now. I looked at them the other day and was sparked with the idea to use them to create this colorful button fish craft for kids.

close up image of finished button fish craft on a pink background

The buttons add a perfect texture to the fish craft since they pop off the page and the little hole reinforcer bubbles are perfect for kids who love to play with stickers…because what kid doesn’t like to play with stickers, right?!

[This fish craft was originally published on May 18, 2016. It has been updated with a new video tutorial, additional instructional text and photos.] 

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How to Make a Button Fish Craft for Kids

This fun and colorful fish craft is perfect as a summer kids craft. As a bonus, there are so many great books you use to go along with this craft. Find a list of some of our favorites near the bottom of this post.

Read our easy step-by-step instructions below for how to make your own fish from buttons. We also have a video tutorial video inside this post you might find useful.

Supplies Needed for this Fish Craft for Kids

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Directions for this Button Fish Craft

1. Start by cutting out a rectangle section out of your brown paper lunch bag for ocean sand. Glue it to the bottom of your blue cardstock paper.

Love Coloring? Look at these Princess coloring pages

Set aside the extra lunch bag in your paper scraps bin to use for another project. Or, if you are creating this craft with multiple children, you can get several pieces of sand from one bag.

See Also: Flower Garden Craft

square collage image showing steps for making button fish craft

2. Cut out triangle shaped tail fins for your fish from scrap pieces of paper. Arrange your buttons on your blue cardstock paper where you want to add your fish. Use an extra strength glue stick or school glue to glue down both the tail fin and buttons onto your paper to make all of your fish.

3. Crinkle up sever pieces of green tissue paper pieces. Glue them along the bottom of your paper to make ocean plants.

square collage image showing four steps for how to make a button fish craft

4. Glue small googly eyes onto each of your fish. Then use a fine tip black marker to draw a mouth on each of your fish.

TIP: We love using adhesive googly eyes on projects like these so we don’t have to wait for drying time for the little googly eyes. I find it’s hard for small children to make tiny glue dots for adding these small googly eyes, so this is another reason the adhesive on the back is super helpful. 

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5. Finish your fish craft by adding paper hole reinforcers around each of your fish to make bubbles.

We love using stickers like these in our craft projects because preschoolers needing to use their hands and fingers to hold and peel off each sticker is fantastic fine motor work!

Related: Paper Plate Corduroy Craft

horizontal image of completed button fish craft project laying on a pink background

Looking for some fun books to go along with this craft?

Here are some of our favorite fish themed children’s books:

Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins
Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae
Fabulous Fishes by Susan Stockdale

vertical collage image with two close up images of finished button fish craft and the words "button fish craft" in the center

More Fun and Easy Button Crafts

Button Birds– Crafty Morning
Button Pineapple with free printable – Glued To My Crafts
Ladybug Button Art – Easy Peasy and Fun
Rainbow Caterpillar Button Craft – Artsy Craftsy Mom
Button Dragonfly Craft – Artsy Momma
Invitation to Create with Buttons – Pink Stripey Socks
Starfish Craft -A Little Pinch of Perfect
Button Snail Craft – I Heart Arts n Crafts
Button Stick Tree Craft for Kids – hello, Wonderful
Fine Motor Button Fish – In The Playroom

Looking for more fun and easy craft ideas to make with your kids? Here is a list of over 100 awesome summer crafts for kids.

Summer crafts for Kids - Easy arts and crafts ideas and summer activities. Animal crafts, ocean crafts, pirates and mermaids, beach crafts and more.

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Completed kids toucan craft laying flat on a pink background.

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