Crafts and Activities

60+ Paper Plate Crafts and Activities

We have made our fair share of paper plate crafts over the years and I always seem to have paper plates around so I thought I’d gather some of the best paper plate activity ideas from around the web and list them conveniently in one place.

For myself, I know that since we usually have paper plates in the house, I’m happy to have more ideas in my arsenal to be able to draw from the next time the kids are bored or for when the snow starts falling and we can’t go out as much anymore. Hopefully, you’ll find some ideas you like and can use with your kids too!

over 60 Paper Plate Crafts & Activities at The Chaos and The Clutter

Paper Plate Masks:

Frog Mask from My Little 3 and Me

Lamb and Sheep Masks from My Little 3 and Me

Superhero Masks from What to do With the Children

Animal Paper Plate Crafts:

Baby Bird Nest from Juggling with Kids

Duck Puppet from Reading Confetti

Frog Puppet from The Craft Train

Counting Octopus from Reading Confetti

Giraffe Zoo Craft from Rainbows Within Reach

Chickens from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Easter Chicken from Learn with Play at Home

3D Penguin from Reading Confetti

Jellyfish from Mamas Like Me

Turtle from Glittering Muffins

Zebra Zoo Craft from Rainbows Within Reach

Handprint Duck from East Coast Mommy

Butterflies from The Craft Train

Ladybugs from Rainbows Within Reach

Black Cat Phonics Craft from Mamas Like Me

Butterfly Life Cycle from here (The Chaos and The Clutter)

Dinosaurs with Templates from Learn with Play at Home

Winter Paper Plate Crafts:

Snowman Garland from Schooltime Snippets

Shredded Paper Snowman from Housing a Forest

Snowman Math Hole Punch Counting from JDaniel4sMom

$paper plate math snowman$

Snowman Waterless Globe from Glittering Muffins

Christmas Wreath from Glittering Muffins

Christmas Ornament from Mamas Like Me

Christmas Decorations from JDaniel4sMom

Valentines Globe from Glittering Muffins

Fall Paper Plate Crafts:

Apple Trees from Reading Confetti

Yarn Apple from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Scarecrows from Rainbows Within Reach

Orange Colour Mixing Pumpkins from Mamas Like Me

Easy Pumpkins from Housing a Forest

Pumpkin for Small Children from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Thanksgiving Turkey from JDaniel4sMom

Cornucopia of Prayer from JDaniel4sMom

Paper Plates to go with Books:

Birdsong Birds from Juggling with Kids

Grouchy Ladybug Clock from Teach Beside Me

Leo Lionni Mouse from Reading Confetti

Paper Plate Games:

Swat the Fly Game from Teach Beside Me

Paper Plate Hats:

Lucky Leprechaun Hats from Mamas Like Me

Dr. Seuss Hats from Mamas Like Me

Paper Plate Instuments:

Tambourine from Green Owl Art

Banjo from here (The Chaos and The Clutter)

Even More Paper Plate Fun:

Paper Plate Painting with Babies and Toddlers from Learn With Play at Home

The Healthy Plate from Green Owl Art

Ring Toss from Mamas Like Me

Easy Earth Day Craft from right here (The Chaos and The Clutter)

Sunflower from Rockabye Butterfly

Sailboat Craft from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Statue of Liberty Crown and Torch from Buggy and Buddy

Birthday Party Banner from Mamas Like Me

Monster from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Flying Saucer from Green Owl Art

Paper Plate Colour Wheel from Learn with Play at Home

Watercolor Flowers from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Dream Catcher from Glittering Muffins

Magnet Painting from Rockabye Butterfly

Little Greenhouse from JDaniel4sMom

Simple Fan from Rockabye Butterfly

Watermelon from Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails

Sweet Bag on Kidspot by Learn with Play at Home

Pirate Party Ideas

By Sharla Kostelyk

Many years ago, Fred had a pirate themed birthday party so when Snuggle Puppy chose a pirate theme for his party this year, I knew it would be easy to plan.

Pirate Theme Party Ideas This party was planned quickly and I wanted to make it as simple as possible. Snuggle Puppy had about 6 friends at his party.

Decorations…

I used a pirate tablecloth, napkins and plates, red cups, and pirate patches. As a centrepiece, I used a pirate hat and hook and I sprinkled gold coins here and there on the table. I also used pirate cupcake liners and filled them with goldfish crackers and put one at each place setting.

Activities…

When the pirates first arrived, our daughters painted their faces to make them look the part.

They then made themselves hooks. This was such an easy craft activity. All I did was make holes in the bottom of red plastic cups and provide tin foil for the kids to shape into hooks. By putting the foil hook through the hole, it created a hook for them to wear on the end of their arm.

pirate hook craft We designed a treasure hunt for the party goers. We hid a treasure map (complete with burnt edges) in a tin and buried the tin in the sandbox. We then gave the pirates instructions to walk 26 paces south of the starting point and start digging! The map in the tin led to multiple locations each containing a clue in an envelope to the next location. At the end of the hunt, they found their treat bags to take home with them.

We had a pirate piñata for the kids which we were planning to hang outside on a tree but we got a bit of a downpour that afternoon so we improvised and the husband held it with the end of a mop while the kids hit it with a stick!

Food…

I made melon boats using cantaloupe. I cut sails out of white paper and used bamboo skewers to attach the sails to the “boats”. I put out a bowl of Whoppers labelled “Canonballs”, a bowl of pretzel sticks labelled “Walk the Plank” and a bowl of Swedish fish candy labelled “Shark Bait”.

The Cake…

The pirate treasure chest cake was really easy to make. I used a loaf pan to make the cake in. With the leftover batter, I made a few cupcakes. Once the cake had cooled, I removed it from the pan and sliced almost through to create a lid. I then iced it with chocolate icing and slipped in Ring Pops, chocolate gold coins, and candy necklaces to look like they were coming out of the treasure chest. To finish it off, I added some M+Ms to the chest.

easy pirate treasure chest cake I just finished the cupcakes simply by making them into an X marks the spot using chocolate icing and M+Ms.

Extras…

In the treat bags we sent home with the party guests, I included play gold coins, parachute men, chocolate gold coins, ring pops, beach erasers, and spinners. We also sent each of the guests home with a buccaneer sword. We’ve now got enough parenting experience that we know not to give boys swords during the party but to instead send the swords with them to use in their own homes!

Last year, we did a pirate unit in our homeschool, so if you are looking for printable pages, hands-on activities including a sensory bin, or more food ideas, you can check out those pirate ideas.

Easy Fall Apple Tree Painting

By Sharla Kostelyk

All that’s needed to make this craft is large paper (we used a large roll of paper that we picked up from the newspaper a few years back), paint and some small apples.

The neighbour next door has generously offered that we can pick the apples from their trees which we have been doing and have already made gluten free apple crisp and a tiny bit of applesauce from. When I thought of this craft idea, I sent the kids next door to get a few apples and they came back awhile later with a bag of store-bought apples from our neighbour two doors down because the ones on the trees next door were too small! This gave me a bit of a chuckle as we had our own store-bought apples but I wasn’t wanting to waste them on this craft! I sent them to return the large apples to the farther neighbour and fetch me some tiny apples from our own small apple trees out front.

When they returned, I cut the tiny apples in half, keeping their stems attached. I painted the outline of a tree trunk and branches onto the large paper and then let the kids get in there with the apples to do some apple print painting. We always find it easiest when working with tempera paint to put it in paper plates first. The kids used the apples as stamps and with their stems, they were able to make it look as though they were growing on the tree.

When the completed project was dry, the kids cut it out and taped it onto the wall. I think it makes great fall wall decor for our homeschool room!

If you are looking for other simple fall craft ideas, you may want to check out the easy fall crafts we made using household items.

Easy Fall Crafts

By Sharla Kostelyk

Fall is my favourite season and the colours and feel make it a natural time to be inspired to create autumn-inspired crafts. Here are some of our favourite easy crafts to make using things that can be found around the house. They are simple, do not require a lot of preparation and they all turned out well for us.

Super Easy Fall Crafts with household items

Toilet Paper Bird Feeder

All you need for this is a toilet paper tube, peanut butter and bird seed. I find the cheapest place to get bird seed is in the bulk bins at the grocery store or bulk bin store. You can use almond butter or Sunbutter as an alternative to the peanut butter in the case of allergies.

easy birdfeeder Spread peanut butter over the cardboard tube and roll it in the birdseed. You can then slip it right onto a tree branch or hang a string through it to hang it off a branch.

Apple Bead Tree

This is another craft made using an empty toilet paper roll. Draw the shape of a tree top on a piece of green cardstock. Glue red beads (apples) to it. When it is dry, make 2 small slits in the side of the toilet paper tube and slide the green top into the slits. (If you wanted, you could paint the “tree trunk” brown.)

Bean Mosaic

With a pencil, lightly sketch what you would like to make. Using different types, sizes, shapes, and colours of beans, glue them to your paper to create the desired look. Depending on the shape chosen (leaf, tree, apple, pumpkin) and the colours of the beans or lentils, this can create a beautiful fall craft.

Fingerprint Trees

Print the templates for the fingerprint trees. Use stamp pads in fall colours to create a beautiful fall tree using fingerprints. This can even be framed and kept as a keepsake of how tiny the kids’ fingerprints were that year. Ours turned out really well.

Fall Fingerprint Trees

Leaf Rubbings

A classic fall craft not to be missed is leaf rubbings. These can be done using crayons and paper and also can encompass bark or sticks or pinecones or any other outdoor treasure your child can find. If you want to get fancy with it, you can have them cut them out afterwards or even make them into a mobile by hanging them from a wire coat hanger.

Apple Prints

All you need for this craft is paper, paint and an apple. Cut a shape into the apple and use it as a stamp. We recently did this as an activity to correspond with the book The Kissing Hand.

Apple Prints

What are your favourite fall crafts? If you are looking for more ideas, you can follow me on Pinterest or you can follow my Fall board.

Ice Painting

By Sharla Kostelyk

Ice painting is a great outdoor activity for kids to engage in. It allows exploration of temperature, texture and art. All that is needed for this art project is an ice cube tray, tempera paint, popsicle sticks, and paper. As I have been doing for some of our sensory art projects, I again used fingerpainting paper because of its glossiness and durability.

The set-up for this particular art was very simple and the finished products turned out quite well!

To prepare for this, I poured tempera paint in ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. I let them set for a bit and then inserted small popsicle sticks in them before allowing them to freeze completely. I actually left mine in the freezer for several days because it was a rainy week and I was waiting for a day when the sun came out!

When it came time to the actual painting, I ran the bottom of the tray under water to loosen the paint pops and then gave the kids their ice paint pops and let them paint away! As the paint pops melted, some of the kids used their hands to spread paint around.

I forgot to add that Snuggle Puppy really got into the whole “sensory” concept and decided to lick the ice pop! I do not recommend you try this one at home!!!

This is just one of the projects we did as part of our 5 Days of Summer Sensory Activities.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.

Shaving Cream Polka-Dot Sidewalk Painting

By Sharla Kostelyk

The last time we did shaving cream painting, I used food colouring to add the colour and we painted mostly inside on paper, though the kids did end up using it to paint on trees and on themselves! Since I still have many cans of shaving cream that I got for free using coupons, I thought that maybe we could try an outdoor version.

I purchased a bath mat at the dollar store (so this entire activity ended up only costing me an extra dollar!). The bath mat caught my eye because it was full of holes and I immediately knew that we could use it as a giant stencil for something.

This time, I used actual paint and mixed it into the shaving cream in a muffin tin. I used washable tempera paint so that it would easily wash away during the next rain. I used shaving cream that was lemon-lime scented to add another sensory element. I lay the bath mat on the concrete and the kids used plastic spoons and their hands to spread the foamy paint onto it. When we lifted it up, we had a polka dot pattern on the sidewalk!

This was something that kept the kids occupied for longer than it took to set up the activity and that always translates into a success in my mind!

This is part of my Summer Sensory Activities Series.

Join me for a free 5 part email series Sensory Solutions and Activities and get your Sensory System Behaviours Easy Reference Cards.