To celebrate Kodomo-no-Hi (Children's Day) on May 5, Japanese families traditionally fly colorful carp-shaped wind socks.
| Prep Time: Under 1 hour | |
| What you need: | |
| 2-foot square of lightweight nylon fabric
Scissors 4 yards of ribbon Pipe cleaners Fabric glue Acrylic paints 2-foot piece of string Wooden dowel | |
| Seasons: Spring, Summer | |
| Materials: fabric, paints, pipe cleaners, ribbon, string, wood | |
| Instructions: | |
| 1. | Fold the nylon in half horizontally. Position the fold on the bottom. With a pencil, draw an outline of a fish, letting the fold serve as its belly and making a 5 1/2-inch-wide mouth. Cut the doubled material along the drawn line and glue the seam closed along the fish's back. |
| 2. | Twist together the pipe cleaner ends to form a ring that's 10 inches around. Slip the ring around the fish's mouth. Fold the edge of the nylon over the ring and glue it down. |
| 3. | Glue six 2-foot lengths of ribbon to the fish's tail. |
| 4. | Invert the wind sock so that the seams are inside. Then paint on scales and eyes. |
| 5. | To ready the carp to fly, use a slipknot to tie the middle of the string to a notch in the dowel top. Snip a small hole into each side of the mouth, push a string end through each, and knot. |
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