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How to Make a Japanese Fish Kite Craft for Preschoolers

April 19, 2013 Amy 18 Comments

This Japanese Fish Kite craft is perfect kite craft for preschoolers to make.

You will love how easy this craft is to make and so much fun to play with to celebrate Japanese Children’s Day. A great spring time multicultural craft for kids to enjoy.

History of Children’s Day In Japan

Children’s Day falls on the fifth day of the fifth month, May 5. The Japanese celebrate Kodomo no Hi, Children’s Day. This day is set to honor children’s strength and happiness. Children’s Day is a national holiday to celebrate all children in a family. The Japanese Fish Kite is an important part of the Children’s Day celebration in Japan.

Japanese Fish Kite

Japanese Fish Kite

 (affiliate links are used throughout this post. I may make a few pennies from your purchase)

A kindergarten teacher once told me about tear art. This improves motor development and children do not get so frustrated trying to cut paper. Tear art also allows for great vibrant colors crayons usually can’t provide.  For something different you could let your child tear the crepe paper as tear art. I decided to cut out the scales for this project, so they were uniform and looked more like scales with crepe paper. I just love the bright colors available and crepe paper is light enough and perfect for a kite!

Materials for Japanese Flying Fish Kite Craft:

Crepe paper (in at least two colors)
Paper fish – 2 copies.
Scissors
Glue
String or yarn
Small wooden dowel or straight stick
Hole punch
Duct tape

Directions for Japanese Fish Flying Kite:

Fish kite Template

1. I used this fish template printable as the basis of the flying kite. Make two copies. Cut out both fish shapes.

Crepe Scales for Japanese Flying Kite

2. Cut out around 16 pieces of crepe paper scales in each color. Cut about 2 inches of crepe paper and just made a half round cut at the end.  Crepe paper is best because it is light and has vibrant colors. You can choose any two colors your child loves. My little guy loves blue and green.

How to make a fish flying kite

3. Next only glue the edges of the two blank sides of the fish together. Make sure the middle is not glued to allow air to go through the fish’s mouth. One fish will be upside down. Don’t worry you child will not even notice. I found it helpful to put a pencil in between the two sides while it dried. I just didn’t want it to accidentally stick together.

Make a fish kite

4. Once the sides are dry, glue the colored crepe paper scales on the side of the fish in alternating colors to create an awesome looking fish.

5. My little guy wanted to color the face, so I let him. As you can see from the photo at the top, he didn’t color much, but he loved it.

6. Then cut streamers for the tail various lengths around 2 feet long. It looks so much better in the wind with different lengths rather than the same.

7. Punch a hole in the fishes mouth as far down as you can. For extra strength I put a little glue around the hole and let it dry. I knew he was going to be running with this and I didn’t want it to tear.

8. Get 2 pieces of string or yarn about 6 in. and tie them through the holes. Next use duct tape and tape the strings to the wooden dowel. For extra decoration you can add a few more pieces of duct tape down the dowel in your child’s favorite color to finish off this fabulous flying kite.

Japanese Flying Fish Kite

 

I love that he can fly this kite all by himself and he doesn’t need any wind just his little feet. As you can see, he has enjoyed running all around the neighborhood with his flying kite. He even said it looked like he caught a fish. The hardest part of this craft project is waiting for the glue to dry with a three year old around. Go ahead and PinIt, so you can make one of these cute kites with your little one.

If you made a Japanese fish kite what colors would you use?

Crafts, Kids, Paper Crafts paper

About Amy

Amy Greene has a passion for creating items from scratch. She created Mainly Homemade to inspire families to cook homemade meals and create homemade crafts to create lifelong family memories. Receive creative family memories in your inbox.

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Comments

  1. Alison at NOVA Frugal Family says

    April 19, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    That is a great summer craft idea! I think that I need to take the last few weeks of school to get all the crafts in order and ready to go!!! Thanks for the wonderful tip 🙂

    Reply
  2. Mackenzie says

    April 26, 2013 at 5:55 pm

    Amy, This is super cute; my little guys would love it! I’m plnning this for a rainy day; thanks for the printable too! 🙂 You are a featured favorite this week on Saturday Show & Tell on Cheerios and Lattes! Thanks for sharing this with us last week, we can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to this week! Have a great weekend!
    Mackenzie 🙂

    Reply
  3. Caroline says

    September 7, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    I love that idea! Will keep it in mind and make it myself one day 🙂

    Reply
  4. Amy says

    June 20, 2016 at 5:11 pm

    Do you still have the printable for this?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 21, 2016 at 10:20 am

      Thank you so much for letting me know that link was broken. I have repaired it. Let me know if you are still having trouble.

      Reply
  5. Jessica says

    March 28, 2018 at 1:15 am

    can i please have the printable?

    Reply
    • Amy says

      April 3, 2018 at 6:43 am

      Yes just click on the the words Fish Template Printable. It should take you to where you can print the fish.

      Reply
  6. Dana says

    April 3, 2020 at 8:56 am

    I’d love to make this with my kids! I’m having a hard time accessing the link for the fish printable. Would you mind double checking that? It only pulls up the image, but not in a way that I can print it out. Thanks!

    Reply
  7. jessica says

    June 6, 2020 at 9:21 pm

    Hi,
    I would love to do this for our theme Children Around the World. Do you have the printable? When I click Fish Template Printable it shows an image of the fish. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Amy says

      June 18, 2020 at 12:01 pm

      Jessica. That is all I have at the moment. You can try to print the picture and use it as a guide.

      Reply
  8. Ruth says

    April 16, 2024 at 6:49 am

    Thank you for the fish. My nursery children used to love making and flying them. We are going to make them at our Messy Church UK next month when we explore the feeding of the 5000. It does print in grey but we will draw round and put scales on to get our template.

    Reply

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