Magnetic fishing game

This was a present for our son. It was so much fun to make and took quite a while as I had some new skills to learn along the way but was very happy with the result. As was he!

I didn’t take step by step pictures as I started this before the blog but I came up with the plan myself and made it up as I went along.

To make this you will need:

• Various coloured felt (including red and green)
• Matching thread to thefleet
• Scissors
• Piece of dowling or a stick
• String
• Blue material for the pond
• Length of rope
• Strong magnets
• Stuffing
• Beads for fish eyes

The fish:

1. Cut out two fish shapes from felt.
2. Using a blanket stitch start sewing at the head and stitch around, leave a gap to stuff your fish and place your magnet in the middle of the stuffing, then sew closed.
3. Add beads for the eyes.
4. Do the same for all the fish, I made six.

If you are feeling creative you could make other under the sea animals!

The fishing rods:

1. Cut a bauble shape out of red felt large enough to fit a magnet inside and allow for an eyelet in the top for the string to hang. (See picture)
2. Cut 2 more circles of felt to go on the inside to protect the magnet, I also put sellotape around the magnet as the first ones I used smashed inside.
3. You should have 2 bauble shapes and 2 smaller circles.
4. Laying all the pieces ontop of each other, use a blanket stitch to sew them together.
5. I have an eyelet making kit, they aren’t expensive and can make your project look that little bit more professional. If you don’t have one you could tie a paper clip to the end of the string and sew it inside the red felt.
6. Using dowling with a hole in for the string, thread it through and knot. There is your fishing rod.

The play mat:

I used a very clear tutorial I found and made it to my own measurements. Find out here. What I like about this one is how neat the drawstring bit looks and it’s very simple to do. The string I had was slightly short but it meant the pond had edges to it which worked really well.

I added some lilly pads on with a simple hand stitch and we were ready to go fishing!  

Note: I wasn’t aware you could get so many types of magnets and I didn’t think about needing to check the weights they could lift! Thankfully I bought very strong ones but they were also quite brittle, hence why I used sellotape around them and added an extra layer of felt. If you know of a good brand of magnets for this type of craft please let me know!

🔹I checked the magnets could lift the fish as I went so I didn’t over stuff them.