Paper Fish Swim Home

The paper fish are stuck on the beach, and children must return them to the sea by blowing them across the floor into the blue hoops, helping each other when a fish gets stuck. It works on aimed blowing, crawling, and helping friends.

How to play

1. The teacher explains that a wave washed the fish onto the beach and only the wind from our mouths can take them home, then shows the sea (blue fabric with hoops on it) (1 min).
2. Each child picks a fish and blows it, crawling, from the beach (a wall) to the sea (3 min).
3. When their fish gets there, the child goes back to the beach for another fish or to help a friend whose fish is stuck, both blowing together (3 min).
4. The teacher makes waves by hand (moving some fish back to the beach), and they keep rescuing until all the fish are in the sea (3 min).
5. Everyone lies around the sea and blows softly so the fish "swim" without leaving the hoops (2 min).

Rules

• Fish move by blowing, not by hand.
• If a friend can't do it, I help them blow.
• I crawl without squashing other people's fish.
• When all the fish are in the sea, we celebrate together.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child blows fish across a big table that is the beach, with a sea hoop at the end.
• Visual impairment: foil fish that rustle and a friend who says "more to the left."
• Autism: preview the story with a drawing and give the child their own set path.

Learning goals

• Aim the breath to move an object.
• Crawl around the space.
• Help friends finish the job.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Tissue paper fish: 25
• Hoops: 4
• Blue fabric: 1

Teacher tip

Cut big tissue paper fish (about the size of an open hand) and bend the tail up a bit so they catch the air better. The best part is that nobody wins: the game ends when the last fish reaches the sea.

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