How to paint paper plate fish

Habitat bright ideas with Fleur Thorpe – DIY projects

Create a school of colourful fish out of paper plates. Recreate real life fish or make up your own.

How to paint paper plate fish
Wall painted in Resene Carrara and Resene Eighth Canterbury Clay and cabinet in Resene Lynchpin

You will need

9 paper plates (26cm diameter)
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Resene testpot paints in your choice of colours, Fleur used:
- Green fish – Resene Tree Frog, Resene Happy Hour, Resene Seeker, Resene Aviator, Resene Black and Resene White
- Pink and blue fish – Resene Bowie, Resene Vibe and Resene Black
- Black and white fish – Resene Black, Resene Buttercup and Resene White
- Dark blue fish – Resene True Blue, Resene Black, Resene Buttercup and Resene Bowie
- Purple fish – Resene Blue Diamond, Resene Bowie, Resene Black and Resene White
- Orange fish – Resene Daredevil, Resene Black and Resene White
- Yellow fish – Resene Buttercup, Resene Funk, Resene Rusty Nail, Resene Black and Resene White
Craft paintbrushes in a variety of sizes
Paper muffin/cupcake cups

Instructions

Paint paper plate fish - Step 1 Step 1
Start with some plain white paper plates. Fleur’s are 26cm in diameter.

Paint paper plate fish - Step 2 Step 2
Use scissors to cut out fish shapes from 7 of the paper plates, such as the mouth and fins.

Paint paper plate fish - Step 3 Step 3
Use the 2 leftover plates to cut out the tails. Fleur found that cutting the plates into quarters was a good start for the tail shape. Cut the tail into the final shape you want and attach it to the fish body with a hot glue gun.

Paint paper plate fish - Step 4 Step 4
Paint the fish using testpot paints and small craft paintbrushes. Fleur copied tropical fish pictures from the internet or you could choose to make up your own fish designs. Fleur left the white areas unpainted.