Paper Plate Crafts for Kids

 Paper plates have always been one of my kids favorite things to craft with. There are so many possibilities for making something fantastic, out of a plain old paper plate! This collection has some really fun ideas for your family to try out. You might not ever look at a pack of plates the same again.

You might notice there are a few of my craft projects listed below. I have been crafting things out of paper plates and Styrofoam bowls since I was a little girl. I can recall my cousin Courtney and I making these super fun flying saucers when we were kids with styrofoam bowls, and it is safe to say, I have been hooked ever since.

Be sure to click through to get the details of all of the projects below.

Paper Plate Lions by Sweet Silly Sara

Grab the paper plates, glue and some pasta to make a really fun little lion craft!

Paper Plate Ladybugs by Crafts by Amanda

These cute little ladybugs are the perfect way to make a spring craft with minimal supplies. Kids of all ages will love this!

Fun Snails by Attachment Mummy

These little snails might inch their way into your heart! They are perfect for an afternoon craft for the little ones!

Paper Plate Witch Craft by Sweet Silly Sara

This friendly witch is the perfect craft project to get kids in the Halloween spirit!

Paper Plate Apples by Mom Brite 

Take a bite out of craft time with this cute apple craft! All you need is a paper plate and a few basic supplies!

Paper Plate Crabs by Mom Wife Busy Life

This paper plate crab craft is nothing short of a pinch of perfect! This is such a cute idea for little hands!

Paper Plate Flowers by Glitter on a Dime

Create a pinkalicious storybook inspired garden of pretty flowers! This a great craft for anytime you need a craft to share!

Paper Plate Pigs by Simply Everyday Mom

Need a cute craft to entertain the kids? This piggy craft is an oinking good time for all!

DIY Pumpkin Window Cling

We love to decorate for holidays and Halloween is no exception. This DIY idea makes fun window clings with simple ingredients for a one of a kind look this season!

The kids are excited about Halloween this year! As soon as they saw Halloween decor popping up in stores, they were ready to buy something! Seeing how cute they are, I couldn't deny them their wish. But, I did draw the line at 2 items. We placed a cute ghost on our door in mid-August...

Luckily, the fun of Halloween is still going strong here! The kids and I made some adorable window clings that I can't wait to share with you guys! Today we will go over how we made these cute and easy Pumpkin Window Clings!

Supplies

Transparent Contact Paper
Scissors
Black, Orange and Green Construction Paper

Have the kids tear the orange paper into little strips and bits.

Then cut the pumpkins face out of the black paper. Tear whatever black remains into small bits and strips.

Peel the backing off of your contact paper and lay it sticky side up.

Place the face of the pumpkin on the sticky side of the paper.

 Next outline the shape of your pumpkin in orange.

Then fill the outline in with orange paper.

Next tear one small bit of green paper for a stem and add it to the top of the pumpkin. Begin to fill in the rest of the area with black paper.

Then you can stick this right to your window. The little areas that aren't covered with paper will adhere to the window, but not so much that it makes peeling it off a bother. You can reinforce the edges with tape if you need to or desire.

And there you have a really easy, fun and cheap way to make a window cling! My kids had a lot of fun with this idea and I think yours will too!

You can find all of my Halloween crafts here

Glam Pumpkin Makeover

Paper Plate Witch

Ladybug Craft

Paper, glue and a few fun craft eyes come together to create a cute ladybug craft your older kids will LOVE to make!

Partner, sponsored or affiliate links may be included!

I made these with Rolf, who is 8. We quickly discovered that a hot glue gun is a necessity for creating these!  

Otherwise, the supplies are quite common, making these perfect for a quick afternoon craft, or a way to make something worth bugging out over on a day that is maybe rainy, or too hot to get out and play! 

Supplies

• 1 sheet of construction paper, red
• 1 sheet of construction paper, black
• 2 craft eyes
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Black marker

Directions

• Cut a circle in the size of your choice from the red paper.  With the leftover paper, cut 4 strips that are about 1" longer than the circle you just made. This will be your body.
• Fold all of the ends of red strips over, then begin gluing them on the red circle. Glue the "tabs" you just created by folding ends. As you can see, I started with one strip going across the circle, then I continued until the strips had formed a shell.
• Cut an oval-ish shape from the black paper, glue this under the shell you just made to form the head.
• Add 2 craft eyes to the head.
• With a marker, carefully add black dots.
• Allow to dry, and you have a fun 3D Ladybug!

You might also love this other fun 3D Ladybug that we made a while ago!

If you are looking for even more buggy fun, we made ladybug valentine cards . Don't forget about our B is for Butterfly craft and coloring page too!

Presidents Day Patritoc Art Project

This easy art project is a fun way to engage preschoolers, toddlers and kindergarteners in a patriotic craft for President's Day, Fourth of July or Veteran's Day!

We had a lot of left over heart cut outs from our Valentine's Day crafts and I wanted to use them up, but I also wanted to make a patriotic craft with the kids for President's Day. This heart flag is what we came up with.

This craft is so easy and lovely. My 5 year old made this one, and she did a really great job with it too!
The older your kids are, the more detailed their projects will be. If you are making this with kids a little older than Rolfie and Harp, you could have them cut the correct number of hearts to use in place of stars.

The supplies for this craft are super basic and you probably have just about everything you will need on hand. We used Kwik Stix in blue to paint the blue square, but you could use markers, crayons or just a small section of blue paper.

Supplies

2 sheets of copy paper or white construction paper
2 sheets of red construction paper
Scissors
Glue
Blue paint, markers of crayons

Directions

Create a small blue square on one sheet of copy paper.
Cut 2 sheets worth of red hearts, then glue lines of red hearts on the paper.
Cut small white hearts from the extra sheet of white paper and glue them on in the blue square you made earlier.

Find all of our kids crafts here

Easy Paper Apple Craft

Every day, my little girls says, "Let's make a craft!" I love her enthusiasm and always encourage activities we can do together. On this particular day, we were anxious to get into some fall themed crafts, and we are always super excited to kick off fall with the harvesting of apples!

This craft was so incredibly fun! It was a bit of a challenge for my almost 4 year old, but we worked together to get it right.

You will need:
A square of heavy white paper {Ours was about 6'' x6''
A piece of green, red or yellow construction paper
School Glue
A tiny strip of brown paper for the stem

To begin we made thin strips of green paper that were 4 inches longer than the square of paper
Next we began folding those strips of green paper so we had 2 folded edges per strip
We glued these on the white paper
Working in a circle we kept gluing both sides of the strips on to the square, being careful to not disturb the other strips of paper
At the end, we added a tiny stem to the top.

We liked this apple craft because it was challenging, a good exercise in patience for both Harp and I. It was also really cute when it was finished! This was a fun craft to follow up with apple slices as a snack!

Easy Apple Tree Stained Glass Window

Cute and easy to make, this kids craft adds a pretty touch to any window, just like stained glass!

We love to craft with contact paper, it is so much fun to use in so many projects! But, one of my favorite uses for it is to make 'Stained Glass' or window decals! These are so cute!

With fall being on the way, our thoughts drift towards the apple orchard almost every weekend. We head out for the time together as a family, harvesting fruit, eating fresh donuts and playing outside. In anticipation of the fun fall weekends that are to come, we made these easy as pie Apple Tree Stained Glass projects.

You will need:
one square of transparent contact paper per decoration
assorted colors of tissue paper, we used green and yellow
one strip of brown construction paper

Lay your contact paper sticky side up
Place your brown paper on the sticky paper to form a trunk
Next cut small circles of yellow or red tissue paper for apples
Place the apple cut outs around the tree
Fill in the leaves using green tissue paper
Leave a few sticky places without paper to easily affix to the window for displaying.

Easy Aquarium Craft for Kids

This easy aquarium craft is perfect for kids of a variety of ages. It gives them a chance to explore their fondness of fish and get creative! Requiring simple supplies, this is sure to be a fun activity kids will flip a fin for!

 This post contains affiliate links. 

My kids love to look at the fish whenever we visit a shop that sells them! I am convinced that between the free cookie at the bakery and a chance to look at the fish the kids look forward the grocery store more than almost anything!

They have been asking if we can get an aquarium, but I hesitate. I am solely responsible for the care of the hamster they begged for last year. Now, don't get me wrong, Hamish, the winter white hamster has brought me a lot of joy, but I am not looking to dive into the world of fish keeping!

To appeal to their interest and buy a little time, in hopes they move on from fish to something else before they talk me into buying a tank we made this incredibly easy fish tank craft! We used two sided tape and contact paper for this project, but you can use construction paper and glue if that is what you have on hand!

Supplies:

A piece of green card stock

A section of contact paper or a piece of blue cardstock 

2  or more colors of construction paper

two sided tape

scissors

googly eyes

Directions:

Cut your contact paper or blue cardstock to resemble a fish bowl.

Cut several fish shapes from your construction paper

Secure the fish inside the fish bowl with two-sided tape

Secure the eyes to the fish using two-sided tape

This was an easy activity for the kids to complete together. They needed a little help with the contact paper but overall did a great job smoothing it out. We proudly displayed this one on the fridge!

Paper Plate Donut Craft for Kids

Paper Plate Donuts are a fun craft to make with the little ones! We paired this activity with the adorable children's book If You Give a Dog a Donut.

Harper and I love to get crafty together! We often pull out our Kwik Stix and paint together! She loves the freedom of painting without an anxious mom and I love offering her an outlet for her creativity.

We also love to read great stories together! So, on this day, we combined the fun of a craft using Kwik Stix with a favorite book to create paper plate donuts!

This craft is incredibly easy but offers so many options for creative expression in toddlers and preschoolers.
You can have the supplies ready in under 5 minutes for crafty fun with the kids.

Supplies
One Paper Plate per child
Kwik Stix
Pom Poms or small bits of paper to resemble sprinkles
Glue

Cut the center out of your paper plates.
Offer the kids the Kwik Stik, if you don't have any paint sticks, you can use markers or crayons.
After the paint has dried (it only takes 90 seconds) have the kids glue on pom poms or paper bits or sprinkles.

There you have some adorable and easy crafts to pair well with a fun book!

If you are making this craft you might want to grab my free Donut Coloring Page.

Easy Tie Dye Art for Kids

Tie Dye is such a fun concept for kids of all ages. We have been experimenting with different techniques and ways to blend colors without actually dying anything. After-all my kids are only 6 and 3 and are not quite ready for real tie dying!

This method is so easy because you probably already have everything you need on hand to create this fun project with your little ones.

Supplies Needed:

Washable Markers

Coffee Filters

Copy Paper

A spray bottle with water

Directions:

Place a coffee filter on a sheet of copy paper.

Have the kids color all over coffee filters with markers.

Spray the coffee filter with water after it has been colored.

Place another sheet of copy paper on top of the wet coffee filter.

Smooth it with your hand to transfer the marker to the copy paper.

Peel the sheets apart, and viola!

You get 3 lovely works of art in the end!

We have a few cute youtube videos on this technique, if you watch them be sure to give them a thumbs up and hit the subscribe button! You can also find me giving an intro to tie dye on facebook live.

Easy DIY Ladybug Valentine's for Kids with Welch's Fruit Snacks

Valentine's Day embraces all things sweet! From cards to decorations and of course, the treats!

Thanks to Welch's Fruit Snacks for se

This year we are making an effort to offer healthier alternatives to the standard miniature chocolates and hard suckers. Our go to choice was fruit snacks and naturally, we turned to Welch's this year! They have these awesome emoji designs out just in time for Valentine's Day!

Inspired by the warm fuzzy feelings that my children give me when they are happy, I came up with this sweet little handmade Valentine to share with Rolf's classroom at their party next week!

These are so cute and easy to make!

One black sheet of construction paper
One red sheet of construction paper
2 googly eyes
One long section of red ribbon
One pink doily heart
Glue
Scissors
Stickers
Welch's Fruit Snacks

Begin by cutting an oval for the body, a medium size heart for the head and several smaller hearts from the back paper.

Cut 2 smaller ovals and a small red heart from the red paper.

Place the two red ovals on the sides of the black oval for wings.

Cut your heart doily in half. Glue one half on each wing.

Add the black heart to the top of the wings to make a head.

Glue 2 googly eyes on the heart head.

Glue the small red heart for a mouth on the head.

Curl on 3 inch section of ribbon for the antenna.

Decorate the body with the small black hearts and a few fun stickers!

Take the rest of the ribbon and tie it around the body, then affix the fruit snacks to the back of the card.

There you have a sweet and cute candy free Valentine Treat!

Welch's Fruit Snacks are available in these fantastic 28 count packages that are perfect for Valentine treat sharing, or just a tasty after school snack! Have you ever given fruit snacks at a holiday party?

Paper Plate Crowns

Paper Plate Crowns are super easy to make and incredibly fun for kids! You need only a few items to make these and your kids are going to adore them!

Harper is into all things princesses these days! The gowns, the shoes, the crowns! A few weeks ago, I made these fun paper plate crowns on Quirky Momma, and I knew I wanted to recreate the craft with Harper! You guys, these are so easy to make. You are going to want to pin this for rainy day reference!

All you need is a paper plate, a pair of scissors and some markers or crayons.

Begin by gently folding your plate in half.

 

Cut it thru the center, extending to right before the plate becomes textured on the side.

Make another cut in the opposite direction, Repeating until you have made 4 cuts. It is kinda like cutting a pie.

Next, fold the cuts so they stand up. Repeat until all sections are standing up.

Color the crown, in whatever colors you like, I added hearts for Harper.

Now you have a crown, fit for a princess! 

You might also enjoy this Tree Silhouette Placemat Craft

Paper Plate Witch Craft

This paper plate craft is perfect for toddlers and school aged children. This one requires simple supplies you likely already have and comes together in a flash!

We have been crafting up a lot of Halloween fun! The kids are really excited about spooky fun and awesome costumes, so I have been indulging their interest and excitement with easy crafts! 

To make this fun witch craft all you will need is:

A paper plate

Green Paint or Markers

2 fun googly eyes

Glue

Black Construction Paper

Orange Construction Paper

Scissors

Color or Paint the Paper Plate Green

Cut a triangle from the black paper, then cut a strip slightly longer than the triangle, glue these onto the paper plate like a witch's hat.

Tear a few strips of orange paper for hair. Tearing instead of cutting will give kids a chance to use fine motor skills plus make the paper curl slightly, which is just fun! Glue the hair onto the witch. 

Next, add eyes and draw on a nose and a mouth. We gave our witch a cute smile.

There you have a cute, friendly and fun Paper Plate Witch craft! This is great for little ones because it is creative, it gives them the opportunity to use their scissor skills and work their fine motor skills too. Additionally, it offers your home a touch of personalized Halloween decor!

You might also like this cute Angry Bird's Pig Craft.