The Rainbow Fish - Glow In The Dark Craft

Inspired by our visit to see The Rainbow Fish show at Just Kidding, Symphony Space, NYC

We went to see the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia perform their glow in the dark version of The Rainbow Fish at 'Just Kidding' which is running at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side in NYC from October to March 2019. To read the post about the show click here.

an image from the show, performed by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we were inspired to try to recreate some of the fun at home. The show used special UV paint that meant the puppets in the show were illuminated under a UV light. Without such high-end products in our craft stash, we reverted to an LED candle and a plastic PET bottle! The results were better than we had imagined and the kids had endless fun in the bathroom this morning recreating the fish on his deep sea mission to recover his lost scale. At bedtime tonight, the bottles were used as nightlights. I love it when a craft has multi uses!

What we used:

A green plastic bottle - we used a San Pellegrino bottle

Washi tape

Aluminium foil

Tissue paper cut into circles

Neon paint bought at Michael's for $3

Googly eyes

Stick glue to stick on the scales

Glue gun to stick the tail to the body

cut the top off a PET bottle and wrap washi tape around to make the cut edges safe

Cut circle shapes into quarters - thin paper is best

cut scales using aluminium foil

Decorate using scales, neon paint and even create other sea creature friends to go with the fish. We used hot glue from a glue gun to hold the tail to the body of the fish and also to stick on the eyes because googly eyes seem to always fall off otherwise! My son insisted on making an octopus (because he is OBSESSED with them!) and we put an LED light into a toilet tube so he glowed in the dark too.

As the kids in the audience at last Saturday's show proved, you're always onto a winner when you do an activity with creatures from the ocean. How about you? Do your kids love the ocean as much as mine?

#rainbowfish #fishcraft #underthesea #glowinthedark #LEDcandle #fishcraft #octopuscraft