“Gone Fishing” Review and activity

by Haley Bono

I want to give a shoutout to my amazing husband in this post. He is so supportive of my goals, and is a loving father to our kids. I wouldn’t be where I am today without this amazing man by my side. With Father's Day approaching, I wanted to do a review on the book “Gone Fishing” by Earlene Long. My son has sat on my husband's lap and listened to his dad read this book innumerable times making it a family favorite.

The book has large pictures with simple sentences on each page. Despite the simplicity the story is very sweet, as it walks through a day, where a little boy gets to go fishing with his dad. By the end of the book both the son and father have caught little and big fish, and they are excited to return home and “show mom”. In addition to the cute bonding my husband and two-year-old have had over this book, I also love how excited my little toddler is to “go fishing”. He’s never been fishing (still a little young) but because of this book, he regularly asks to “go fishing with daddy”. We even bought him a children's fishing pole to play with around the house.It's wonderful that this book can help instill a curiosity and a desire to explore the great outdoors in children. You can take advantage of a child’s curiosity, take them on nature walks, visit parks, you could even create a mini fishing adventures in your backyard. These activities will not only nurture his interest in nature, plants, and animals but also provide valuable learning opportunities.

This book is not as common as other books. I always encourage people to check out their local book store first, but if you can’t find it there you can find it here on amazon.

The options are limitless when it comes to introducing this activity. You could talk about the history of fishing, which dates back thousands of years, and has been an important food source across many different countries and cultures. You may want to discuss the importance of sustainable fishing, and the dangers that overfishing can have on the environment. Or you could consider talking about the anatomy of a fish, and ask some interesting questions such as “how does a fish breathe underwater?” or “how fast do you think fish can swim underwater?”.

Supplies:

Free fishing pole, and fish template (there will be a free download at the end of the post), Something to color with, glue, string, scissors, paperclip.

Directions:

1. Color the fishing pole page.
2. Cut a piece of string about 10 inches in length. Glue about half the length of the string along the dotted lines on the fishing pole. (It should leave part of the string free to dangle)
3. While the glue is drying color and cut out the fish on the other page.
4. Tie a paperclip to the end of the string that is not glued to the paper.
5. Now you can “fish” by slipping the fishing into the paperclip. Let your child pick their favorite fish, and help them write what they caught at the top of the page. Or if all the fish are their favorite, you could help them write all the names at the top of the page.

Different Variations:

• To make the activity more challenging, you can have your kiddos draw their own fish. There are some blank squares where the kids can make their own creations. You can let them get as creative as they want, or you could do some fishing research. Ask them “What type of fish would you like to catch?” and encourage them to draw a picture of that fish.
• For children who don’t write yet, you could use alphabet stickers, to help build letter recognition. Or a parent could write using a highlighter and have the children trace it, to help build writing skills.