You can easily make these adorable cardboard tube fish with the kids. A great way to recycle and make something fun at the same time.

Cardboard Tube School of Fish

I have a lot of cardboard tubes. Seriously, it’s become a standing joke around here that no one is allowed to throw out the cardboard tubes from the toilet paper or paper towels because I need them for craft projects! And see, if they were throwing them away I wouldn’t be showing you these cute cardboard tube fish you can make with the kids!

This cute project is great for a group of kids, like summer camp or a classroom. Be sure to pull out the smocks and have baby wipes handy for quick clean up.

What You’ll Need

• 4-inch cardboard tubes
• White craft glue
• Paint: green, light blue, purple
• Scissors
• Self-adhesive gems
• Large googly eyes

Flatten each cardboard tube. Line the inside with some glue and press them tight together with your hands. Place a heavy object on top of each one to help them stay closed while the glue takes hold.

Paint each flattened tube, one blue, one green and one purple.

Cut on a diagonal on each side (see photo) to create the head. Save the pieces you cut off for the tail.

Carefully open the back end of the fish and insert the two cut pieces creating the tail. Press back together.

Use scissors to trim out a mouth. Glue on eyes and decorate with self stick gems.

P.S. I use Craft Smart paint for most of my kid’s crafts. You can find it at Micheals or here on Amazon, it goes on nicely but costs a lot less than other paints.

More cardboard tube crafts

Looking for more? I’ve provided a few of my favorites below, but you can also find all my cardboard tube crafts here.

Cardboard Tube Birds	Cardboard Tube Beaker
Cardboard Tube Coiled Snakes	Cardboard Tube Minions

InLinkz.com

Print Project

5 from 1 vote

Cardboard Tube School of Fish

You can easily make these adorable cardboard tube fish with the kids. A great way to recycle and make something fun at the same time.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Crafting Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Supplies

• 3 4-inch cardboard tubes
• White craft glue
• Paint: green, light blue, purple
• Scissors
• Self adhesive gems
• 3 large googly eyes

Instructions

• Flatten each cardboard tube. Line the inside with some glue and press them tight together with your hands. Place a heavy object on top of each one to help them stay closed while the glue takes hold.
• Paint each flattened tube, one blue, one green and one purple.
• Cut on a diagonal on each side (see photo) to create the head. Save the pieces you cut off for the tail.
• Carefully open the back end of the fish and insert the two cut pieces creating the tail. Press back together.
• Use scissors to trim out a mouth. Glue on eyes and decorate with self stick gems.

This post originally appeared here on Apr 23, 2014.