Bubble Guppies Fishketball Game

·  Step 1: Print out the bean bag templates and multiple copies of the Fishketball templates, then help your child cut the templates out.

·  Step 2: Draw a circle on one end of a closed cardboard box. Try using a pot lid or a plate to trace the circle on to the box, then use a craft knife to cut out the circle.

·  Step 3: Help your child tape or paste the little fish around the circle you just created on the box.

·  Step 4: Trace the bean bag templates onto white and orange felt as instructed. Glue the edges of the two pieces of outer circle together, leaving a small opening for the beans to go inside.

We recommend filling a small storage bag with beans before inserting it into the felt. Once you’ve filled the bag, insert it into the felt and close with glue.

Glue the inner circle, fish body, and fish eye onto one side of the bean bag (see photo for reference). You can make as many bean bags as you like, but we recommend making 3-5 for game play.

·  Step 5: Let’s Play Fishketball!: The Fishketball game board and bean bag are complete and it’s time to play! Lean the box against a wall or set it on a table, then help your child practice aiming the bean bag and tossing it through the hole in the box.

Fishketball not only helps kids improve their hand-eye coordination, it also help develop social-emotional and math skills. Here’s a way you can play: have players take turns making 5 tosses. (For kids up to age 2, try 3 tosses). As each child plays, have the whole team call out the number of each toss. A parent or older child can keep track of each successful toss by writing hash marks down on a piece of paper (or drawing circles, making check marks, etc.). When all the kids have finished playing, you can count the hash marks together to find out how many “baskets” were made. Play again to see if you can beat your team score. When you encourage kids to count out loud and figure out the score total together, you’ll see that this game adds up to everyone being a winner!