Gone Fishin' Tutorial

We were at Target the other day, and the little one wanted a princess fishing pole. I did not want to buy her the pole, and have it sit in her room, never to be used. So I decided I was going to make her a fishing game she could play inside the house. This is what I came up with:

Her very own fishing game. I used some left over felt squares, paper clips, string, a magnet and a wooden dowel.

This is SO easy to make, and she has been having a blast with it since!

First you will need to get your material:

1. Felt 
2. Paper clips
3. Wood dowel
4. Magnet
5. String or embroidery floss and needle.
6. glue gun
7. Fish outline

Once you have your material, take your first felt piece, fold it in half...

Lay your fish outline on your felt piece, pin, and cut it out.

You should have two pieces. Keep them laying on each other as is.

Take your floss, and tie one end. Thread the other through your needle.

Start at the mouth of the fish. From the inside, push your needle through.

 Your knot should now be in between the fish.

Now stitch it back down, through both layers.

It should look like this. Now repeat the stitching all the way around the fish. This will hold the two fish together. 

Your fish will look like this on both sides.

Once you get close to the end, leave a gap, to fill the fish with cotton, and to insert the paper clips.

Here is your opening.

 Now take your two paper clips. 

Add one to each side of the fish, as shown.

Now, stitch the rest of the way around the fish. When you get to the clips, make sure to go through them. That way you secure them in place, and they wont slip down into the tail of the fish. Then tie off the string.

Here is your finished fish, with the filling and paper clips all secured in place. Now repeat this with as many colors as you would like. 

Now for the fishing pole:

Take your wooden dowel or stick, a string cut at your desired length, one paper clip, and your magnet.

Tie one one end of your string to the end of the pole. Make sure to double knot. 

Take your paper clip, and add a very small amount of glue to the smaller end. make sure it is a small amount of glue, when we press it to the magnet, we don't want the glue to completely cover the magnet. (You can also skip this step since the magnet will attach to the paper clip, but you will have to be careful not to lose the magnet. So i decided to glue mine.

Now press it to your magnet.

Tie the other end of the string to the paper clip, as shown. make sure to double knot.

There you have it! You are all done, now it is time to play!

And that is it! Now you have your fish, and your pole. The magnet should attach to the paper clips inside the fish!

You can always glue your magnet directly to the string, or dress your pole up. But the concept is the same. My daughter loves it, even if it isn't the pink pole from Target! I used everything I had around the house, so I didn't spend anything on this game! And that is the best part!