Pout-Pout Fish Preschool Activity: Identifying Feelings

We have big feelings in our house, so we get to spend a lot of time talking and learning about them. Sometimes it gets frustrating, but I'm also happy my kids can (usually) identify how they are feeling. I'm always looking for ways to learn about feelings when we aren't in the middle of a meltdown, so when I saw this adorable project from Playground Parkbench, I knew we had to do it as part of our "O is for Ocean" week.

About the Pout-Pout Fish

This project is based on the book The Pout-Pout Fish. It is a cute, fun read with a great rhythm and flow to the rhyming words. I actually enjoy reading it aloud. For preschool, my daughter (who is very familiar with the book) and I read it aloud to the rest of the kids. They all were thrilled when the "pout-pout fish" had his frown turned upside down!

About the Feelings Activity

This was a simple, quick activity that all four of the kids enjoyed (ages 2.5-5). The kids started by each painting two paper plates. I put out blue and green paints and they each enjoyed painting and swirling the colors to create their own unique "fish".

While we let them dry, we did some other fun ocean activities. Once they were dry, I attached the two plates together using a brad in the middle. I also cut out a triangle from the top plate. Then, the kids glued the eyes on their fish.

We discussed feeling happy and sad, and what that looks like. Then, they each picked an oil pastel and drew a happy face on one section of the bottom plate. After that, I showed them how to rotate the top plate to reveal a new section of the bottom plate, and they drew a sad face on that section.

The Result

Each of the kids had a grand time rotating the top plate and pretending to be whatever feeling they were seeing there. The younger two were especially interested in it and kept returning to the activity throughout the rest of the day. This project was such a hit, I'm considering additional ways we can incorporate the concept of the two plates into other lessons.

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