Paper plates are one of the most versatile materials to use in preschool for arts and crafts activities. They come in different sizes, are inexpensive, are easily accessible, and can be turned into different shapes.
Explore these eleven charming crafts made from paper plates that will help enhance children’s creativity and imagination while having fun.
We use emojis as a popular and alternative means of communicating one’s feelings without using words, and they are great for teaching children different kinds of emotions.
These can be used as party decorations or as a social-emotional learning tool, as a mood chart for the class, and for telling the characters’ emotions during storytelling.
Start this activity by choosing the emoji to make. Next, let the children paint the paper plate yellow. Let the paint dry.
Next, have them cut out shapes from construction paper for the facial details. Cut out red hearts and a black half-circle for the heart eyes emoji. Let them glue these on the plate.
Next, have the children paint the craft stick black. Once dry, they can attach this to the back of the paper plate.
Explain to the children the meaning of the emoji and create scenarios where it is an appropriate emotion.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Yellow paint
- Large craft sticks
- Paint sponge
- Construction paper
- Glue
- Scissors
- Marker
For more information on this activity, go to NaturalBeachLiving.com.
The paper plate rainbow is a great craft for children to improve their color recognition and fine motor skills. They can also learn the order of colors in a rainbow. This craft is perfect for rainbow or weather-themed lessons and St. Patrick’s Day.
Let the children cut the paper plate in half to make the rainbow craft. Draw a line for younger children to use as a guide when cutting. Have the children paint from the ribbed edge of the paper plate following the rainbow colors.
It might be helpful for children to have lines that serve as boundaries when painting. Doing this will be beneficial, especially for younger children who might find painting curves or arches challenging.
Once the paint dries, glue some cotton balls on each side of the plate to resemble the clouds. Hang this for the room’s decoration, or use it as props for stories that mention rainbows.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Paint
- Paintbrush
- Glue
- Cotton balls
- Scissors
For more information on this activity, go to MessyLittleMonster.com.
See more: Rainbow Art for Preschoolers
The colorful paper plate flowers can be used for any nature-inspired lesson or room decorations. Make a variety of these for teaching children colors and patterns. Making this craft will strengthen children’s fine motor skills.
Decide the type of edge of the flower. It can be cut in a zigzag, scallop, or straight line. Draw a line for the children to use as a guide and let them cut. Next, use the excess to cut out the leaves. Draw leaf shapes and let the children cut these out.
They can paint the leaves green, while the flowers can be painted in their preferred colors for the background. They can also create unique designs by adding various sizes of dots and different types of lines. Let the paint dry.
Use the hot glue gun to attach the leaves and the drinking straw to the back of the flower. The straw will serve as the flower’s stem.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Paint
- Scissors
- Drinking straw
- Hot glue gun
For more information on this activity, go to RedTedArt.com.
See more: Flower Crafts for Preschool
Perfect for the insect unit study and butterfly life cycle lessons, this butterfly craft can strengthen fine motor skills and improve children’s color recognition. With a science lesson, discuss the role of these animals in plant reproduction.
Show videos and pictures for children to explore the different types of butterflies and their unique attributes.
Let the children cut the paper plate in half to make the butterfly. Drawing a line for younger children to use as a guide when cutting can be beneficial. These half circles will become the butterfly’s wings.
Have the children create unique designs for the wings by using dot markers. Once finished, allow the ink to dry and attach the wings together to a large craft stick.
Draw the face on the craft stick and glue the googly eyes. Cut a pipe cleaner, bend in the middle, and curl the ends for the antennae. Stick to the back of the butterfly’s head.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plates
- Large craft sticks
- Dot markers
- Glue
- Scissors
- Googly eyes
- Pipe cleaner
For more information on this activity, go to GlitterOnADime.com.
This craft can be used for a bird study unit, nocturnal animals, and the letter O. Make three of these in smaller sizes to go with the book “Owl Babies” by Martin Waddell, which is about three owlets waiting for their mother.
A lesson in science is a great way to explore how amazing these birds are. Use videos and pictures for children to see the different types of owls.
Have the children paint the paper plate in their preferred color. The site suggests letting them explore different ways of painting, such as using paintbrushes and sponges.
Once the paint dries, let them cut the wings from fabric scraps and glue them on the paper plate. Next, have them sticky the white foam stickers for the eyes and add the black buttons.
Let them cut out a triangle for the owl’s beak and feet from foam sheets. Have them stick these on their owls to complete.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Foam sheets
- Paint
- Buttons
- Fabric scraps
For more information on this activity, go to HappyHooligans.ca.
See more: Owl Crafts for Preschool
These hot air balloon crafts can be used for transportation unit study or air travel-themed lessons and for celebrating Hot Air Balloon Day. Use videos to show children how a real hot air balloon works.
Use these as literacy or math mats to teach preschool concepts with letter or number cards. Put a letter or a number on the basket and let the children find and place its matching pair on the balloon.
Start this craft by making the basket. Have the children cut a rectangular shape from the paper plate and cut slits. Let them cut the excess parts into strips for weaving.
Demonstrate this part and refer to the pictures on the site for this step. Next, use the hot glue gun to attach the two drinking straws to the basket and the paper plate on top.
Let the children paint and add decorations to it using markers or glitter.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plates
- Paper drinking straws
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Markers
- Glitter
- Paint
For more information on this activity, go to OurKidsThings.com.
This paper plate craft gives a glimpse of underwater scenery. This can teach the letter O for the ocean, big and small concepts, and counting. The materials used in this craft will provide a wonderful sensory experience for children.
You can also use this craft for ocean unit study and fish-themed lessons. A great ocean book to use for this craft is “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss.
Using a cotton swab, let the children spread some glue on the bottom of the blue paper plate. Have them sprinkle some uncooked rice to resemble the sand.
Once the glue dries, have the children cut out two yellow triangles from construction paper and have them stick these under the bottle caps. Let the glue dry well and attach the googly eyes.
Have them use the marker to draw the mouth and add some glue and glitter on the bottle caps as added designs. Let them glue strips of green tissue paper for the sea grass and the Gold Fish Cracker.
To make the bubbles, have them dip the drinking straws in white paint and stamp them on the paper plate.
For this activity, you will need:
- Marker
- Paper plates
- Bottle caps
- Drinking straw
- Glitter
- Goldfish crackers
- Googly eyes
- Tissue paper
- Cotton swabs
- Uncooked rice
- Glue
- Paint
- Construction paper
- Scissors
For more information on this activity, go to DucskNArow.com.
This watermelon craft can be used in pretend play areas for children to act like a seller or server during play. Doing this will help improve their oral language skills.
This can also be used to teach the color red, and children can practice counting the seeds.
Older children can practice learning about simple fractions with the fruit slices. Show how portions of fruits can make one whole, and each portion represents a part of the whole.
Children will find this craft simple and easy to make. Use verbal instructions as a prompt for children. This will help improve their listening skills and to follow directions.
Have the children paint the ribbed edge of the paper plate green and the middle part red. Once the paint dries, use the cotton swab to add black dots to resemble the watermelon seeds.
Next, have them cut the paper plate in half. Cut one of the pieces into three to complete.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Black paint
- Cotton swab
- Scissors
- Paintbrush
- Pencil
- Straight edge or ruler
For more information on this activity, go to Woojr.com.
See more: Watermelon Crafts for Preschoolers
This spooky craft is too adorable to make anyone scared. This craft is perfect for Halloween and will help improve children’s fine motor skills.
Have them use the phrases “bigger than,” “smaller than,” or “the same size” to help improve their oral language skills when comparing the sizes of the googly eyes.
Cut a slit in the middle of the plate to make it easier for children to cut the inner circle of the plate. Have the children flip the remaining part of the plate and paint it black.
Have them cut two black strips from construction paper and a black circle to cover the plate. Let them use the sticky tape to attach the strips. Do the same for the background cover but leave enough space to insert the ghost.
Next, have them stick the googly eyes in on the background.
Let the children cut out the ghost shape and attach it to a large craft stick. Add googly eyes and a black circle for the mouth. Insert this inside the paper plate and secure it into place.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plates
- Paint
- Construction paper
- Large craft stick
- Small googly eyes
- Colored googly eyes
- Sticky tape
- Scissors
- Glue
For more information on this activity, go to ThePinterestedParent.com.
See more: Ghost Crafts for Preschool
This bunny hat is an exciting craft for children to make, perfect to wear when Easter egg hunting, in pretend play areas, or for use as a prop for stage plays. This hat can also be used to retell stories with bunnies as the book’s characters.
“Little Bunny Foo Foo” is a good nursery rhyme for this hat. Let children take turns being the bunny, the field mice, and the fairy. These activities will help improve their oral language, listening skills, and comprehension.
Assist the children in making an outline of the bunny ears on the back of the paper plate. For younger children, prepare this step in advance. Next, have them use the pink crayon to color the inner part of the ears.
An adult will need to cut a slit in between the ears. Have the children cut the area around the ears. Mark the places where they need to cut. Assist if needed.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plate
- Pink crayon
- Scissors
- Pencil with eraser
- Craft knife
For more information on this activity, go to Kenarry.com.
See more: Bunny Crafts for Preschool
A snowman wreath is a perfect Christmas ornament or a winter decoration. Let children work on their counting skills as they count the cotton balls in each snowman.
Modify the color of the hat, eyes, mouth, and scarf to teach color recognition skills and patterns. Use this craft to discuss how to make a real snowman. Show them pictures or videos of the process.
Let the children cut out the inner circle of the paper plate and glue it on top of the paper plate for the snowman’s head. Next, ask the children to glue the cotton balls around the snowman’s body.
Use cardstock scraps to cut out the hat, nose, arms, and scarf. Outline this on the cardstock for children to cut. Next, have them glue this on the snowman and add the buttons for the eyes and mouth.
Have the children attach a ribbon to the back of the snowman for hanging.
For this activity, you will need:
- Paper plates
- Cotton balls
- Buttons
- Cardstock
- Ribbon
- Glue
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
For more information on this activity, go to KidsCraftRoom.com.
Conclusion
These paper plate crafts are simple and can be modified to the children’s abilities. They provide hours of fun and excitement, which can be paired with other activities for a specific lesson. Choose one that will fit the season or celebration.
Thank you for reading. Come back and check out our other craft articles soon.
