24 Easy Paper Plate Crafts For Kids

These paper plate crafts are perfect for the little ones in your classroom. There is enough paper plate projects and activities in this roundup to complete a whole year of lesson plans. These projects are also fun to make at home for kinder kids and homeschool kids art projects. All of these kids crafts use paper plates. Paper plates are a great craft item to have on hand as within minutes you can have a craft activity ready to go. We have included our own paper plate tutorials below for a Lamb and a tree, perfect additions to your classroom craft activities ideas.

No need for anything fancy, complicated, or expensive for your kids to get creative and show off their creativity and of course their imagination. There are so many fun kids crafts you can create with a bit of paint and some cutting.

21 PAPER PLATE CRAFTS FOR KIDS

1. Paper Plate Easter Bunny

2. Cruz Ramirez Paper Plate Craft

3. Paper Plate Cupcake Liner Fish

4. Paper Plate Frog Craft – Check out these books about Frogs

5. Paper Plate Fish Craft

6. Paper Plate Ladybug

7. Paper Plate Love Birds

8. Paper Plate LadyBug

9. Paper Plate Rocking Sheep

10. Paper Plate Cogsworth Craft

11. Paper Plate Heart Sewing Craft

12. Paper Plate Mayflower Ship

13. Paper Plate Puffer Fish

14. Paper Plate Owl Craft Pair this activity with these Books about Owls

15. Paper Plate Peacock Craft Books about Peacocks

16. Paper Plate Lion Craft

17. Paper Plate Insect Sewing Craft

18. Flamingo Paper Plate Craft

19. Paper plate Jellyfish

20. Paper Plate Arctic Fox

21. Paper Plate Star Twirler

Paper Plate Lamb Craft is a perfect activity to pair with these books

Sheep Dog and Sheep Sheep: Baaad Hair Day

Go To Sheep

Lambslide

The Sheep Who Hatched an Egg

Instructions

Paper plate

Cotton balls

Quick dry tacky glue or school glue

Spring Lamb Template File (below)

Print the Spring Lamb Template file of your choosing.

If printing with cutting machine, upload the correct file to your software. Resize the images to fit 6 ½ inches wide and 11 inches long. Select to print and cut. Be aware that the SVG and EPS files are in black and white. If you choose to print in color, you will need to set those colors within your software manually.

Allow children to create the Spring Lamb by gluing cotton balls to the paper plate. Then, add the paper layers to create the ears and face.

This kids craft tutorial shows you how to make a tree using a paper plate, perfect for lesson plants and book activities.

Paper plate

Green crepe paper

Brown construction paper

Quick dry tacky glue or school glue

Pair this kid craft activity with some children’s books about trees

Cut brown construction paper into a tree trunk and attach it on the back of the paper plate with glue.

On the front of the paper plate, use glue to attach long ribbons of crepe paper.

All to dry completely before playing or displaying.

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I recently stumbled across this super creative project on Instructables – “Face With Recycled Paper Cylinders” – and I had to share it with you all because it’s just the kind of craft that checks all my favorite boxes: recycled materials, hands-on creativity, and fun for literally any age.

The idea is simple but genius—roll strips of recycled paper (think junk mail, old magazines, leftover printer paper) into cylinders, then arrange and glue them to form a unique abstract face. You can make it funky, realistic, Picasso-inspired—whatever your mood or style dictates!

What I really love is the blend of eco-conscious crafting with true artistic expression. This isn’t just another kids’ project—it’s something you could easily do with a group of little ones, a classroom full of teens, or even as an adult art therapy or weekend wind-down activity. It’s super relaxing and surprisingly satisfying seeing all those paper rolls come together to form something new and expressive.

The tutorial itself is easy to follow, with plenty of visuals to guide you along the way. You don’t need any fancy materials—just glue, paper, scissors, and a board or piece of cardboard to serve as your canvas.

I also appreciate how this project leaves so much room for personalization. Want to make it into a full face? Go for it. Prefer to focus on a single eye or mouth? Totally works. You can even play with color schemes by choosing papers with a certain palette, or painting over them once they’re rolled.

In short: this is a total keeper for anyone who loves crafting with purpose. It’s the kind of project that sparks creativity while gently reinforcing the idea that beautiful things can come from what we usually throw away.

Highly recommend giving it a go—solo or with a group. And if you try it, tag me or drop a pic—I’d love to see your recycled masterpiece!

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