A Paper Fish – Crafting with a Surprise Effect

🎂 5 + years ⏱️ 20 min 📍 Anywhere ⭐ easy

Here, you'll create a special fish from a sheet of A4 paper. This fish looks completely normal at first, but when you pull it apart, it suddenly shows its teeth and has little fish in its mouth! With this craft idea, you'll learn how folding and drawing come together to create a cool surprise effect. You can let your creativity run wild and design your own fish. Sounds exciting? Then grab a piece of paper and get started!

What you'll need

A4 paper
Various pens

How it works

Take an A4 sheet of paper and place it with the short side facing you. Fold it exactly in half. Then take one of the folded halves and fold it back outwards. Now you have a kind of accordion fold.
Draw a fish on the top layer of the folded paper. Make sure the mouth is right on the center fold line.
Unfold the paper again. Extend the lines of the fish's mouth inward, so that it creates a large, open mouth.
Draw sharp teeth in the big mouth and little fish inside, as if your fish has just eaten! You can also add other details like bubbles or scales.
Fold the paper back together and show your fish to someone. Then pull the paper apart: Surprise! Now your fish can show its huge teeth.
Every fish will be unique. Try out different shapes and facial expressions! Maybe you’ll even draw a completely different animal using this trick? Have fun crafting and surprising your friends with your greedy paper fish!