We love paper plate crafts for kids! Nothing beats crafting with a frugal material and we can all agree paper plate craft fits the description. And there are so many fun things you can create with a bit of paint and some cutting.
Our collection of crafts with paper plates is rapidly growing (do check back as we often add new ones). We love the versatility of this crafting material as you can make it fit for any age group – from ideas easy enough for toddlers to do, through preschoolers, kids in kindergarten and even older kids to enjoy.
We have paper plate project for every season and most holidays, so I am pretty sure you will find just the right idea to make with your kids at home or in the classroom.
Some of our latest art and craft with paper plates ideas
By Theme
- spookalicious Halloween paper plate craft ideas
- jolly Christmas paper plate activities (coming soon)
Cool Paper Plate Activities to Make all Year Round
Above all we love making fun animals (we even have a post dedicated to paper plate animal crafts), you can do these all year long although some are more suited to some seasons than others.
Crocodile or Alligator
This paper plate crocodile is one of our silliest (and favorite) projects we made, and it’s certainly one that entertains the kiddos.
Perfect for older kids who already have a good grasp on scissor skills.
Twirling Fox
Our twirling fox isn’t only fun to make but also super fun to look at as it twists and twirls in the air.
Monkey Time
This paper plate monkey is ready for some monkey business. Trace the little hands and use them as monekey’s feet and hands. Perfect for a jungle theme.
Fish Perfect for Kindergarteners to Make
Rainbow fish or a regular fish, this paper plate activity is great for fine motor skills. Not to mention kids will love punching those circles.
Owl
This owl paper plate craft will have your little ones punching and gluing paper circles too. Sounds fun? It sure is!
I Scream for Ice Cream
Ice cream craft is fun all year round (although extra fun in the summer). There are so many ways you can decorate these, pom poms, tissue paper, glitter and more!
Weather
Make a rainy cloud, snowy day, sunshine… So many possibilities!
Umbrella
If you’re making weather crafts, umbrella paper plate project is a must too. You do need something to keep you safe from the rain drops after all.
Everyone Needs a Rainbow
This is a wonderful rainbow craft and it also helps with the color sorting. You can easily swap buttons with tissue paper, torn paper, pom poms or any other more frugal materiel.
Turtle
Paper plates just scream to be transformed into turtles. You can either decorate the shell with markers or use torn paper, depending on the age of kids making this easy activity. Preschoolers will love making it with torn paper while older kids will be decorating the details on their own. This one can be easily modified to make with toddlers too, the paper plates can be decorated with do a dot markers or by painting them with their fingers – a cute art and craft with paper plates is it not?
Cat
Two paper plates make a fun looking cat. We made this craft tutorial for Halloween, but cats are fun all year round. No need to stick with a black one either, there’s all kinds of wonderful kitten color combos out there.
Bunny But
Next in our selection of crafts with paper plates is this cool looking bunny but paper plate craft. This one is insanely easy and quick to make, so it’s a perfect project for kids of all ages. Kindergarten and preschoolers will be able to make this one on their own, if working with a toddler though you will need to cut the feet. Still a very low prep activity to do with your kids or class.
Sheep – A wonderful Sensory Paper Plate Craft for Preschool
Making a paper plate sheep craft with cotton balls is fun! For a more frugal, yet less fluffy, alternative, this paper plate craft can be also made using punched paper circles or by wrinkling and gluing tissue paper.
I Heart a Heart
What we love the most about this paper plate heart craft, is that it focuses on fine motor skills. Not only will your little ones be cutting and punching holes with a hole puncher, threading is also involved.
Busy Bee
Love a busy bee craft? We have one made out of paper plate crafts too.
Wobbling Penguins
These wobbling paper plate penguins are adorable. Make them, poke them and watch them wobble.
Make a Snowman
It does not have to be winter to make a paper plate snowman. There are many cool ways you can go about decorating this one.
Hedgehogs Paper Plate Crafts for Kids to Make
Make a paper plate hedgehog, this one is great to make in fall time when you can get crafting with leaves, but replace leaves with triangles cut out of paper (or any other material that comes to mind) and you can make this fun project all year round.
Octopus
Dive into the ocean with this fun looking paper plate octopus! You can make it’s tentacles with paper like we did, or use any other materials like ribbon, pipe cleaners (for very, very thing tentacles)…
Turkey
Turkey paper plate crafts are best suited for fall, but this animal can easily be made at any time of the year – replace the real leaves with fake ones or use paper to make the tail.
Swirly Kitty
We do love our swirly crafts with paper plates, this kitty included. Not only is this one super easy and quick to make, it will also make the most wonderful decoration for your home or your classroom. Let the kids color these in their favorite cat colors, as they will make quite a view.
Peacock
Make a paper plate peacock! This one is really cool as it stand’s on it’s won as a true peacock would.
Ghost
Making a ghost that swirls in the air is the only natural thing to do. This paper plate activity is great for scissor practice and as it does not require any real painting of the paper plates it’s an insanely quick one to make too!
Paper Plate Watermelon Activity
A wonderful paper plate fruit craft to make with the kids. This one can be used as a toy too, as it opens up nicely to show the watermelon inside. You can adapt this one to make many different kinds of fruits.
Another Fish to Make
This paper plate fish craft combines two popular crafting materials, the paper plates and cupcake liners. Fun!
Make Flowers
Another fun paper plate activity to do with kids is to make flowers.
