Anyone that is a regular reader of my blog will know that I love crafting with paper plates. Molly loves it too, especially these paper plate animals we recently made. The fact that she gets to paint a paper plate instead of regular paper makes it a little bit more exciting for her. Christmas is just around the corner so of course, we had to attempt some Christmas paper plate crafts.

Materials:

Paper plates
Coloured card
Paint
PVA glue
Double-sided tape
Googly eyes
Pom poms
Pipe cleaners
Tissue paper
Glitter
Cotton wool balls
Scissors
Masking tape

Directions:

Reindeer

1. Paint the paper plate brown and leave to dry
2. Twist two pipe cleaners together to make antlers
3. Stick one of the antlers to the back of the paper plate with masking tape. Repeat for the second antler.
4. Stick on two googly eyes with PVA glue
5. Stick on a pom pom for the reindeers nose with PVA glue
6. Paint on the reindeers mouth

Christmas Pudding

1. Paint about half of the paper plate brown, creating a wavy line
2. Once the paint has dried spread PVA glue all over the unpainted section
3. Sprinkle (lots of) glitter all over the glue
4. Wait for it to dry and shake off the excess glitter
5. Create holly and ivy by cutting two leaf shapes out of green card (or paint white card). Stick these to the top of the paper plate with PVA glue or double-sided tape and then stick some red pom poms on top of the card with PVA glue

Penguin

1. Paint two paper plates black
2. Make flippers for the penguin by cutting one of the paper plates in half and attaching a half to the back of each side of the other paper plate
3. Paint a white semi-circle(ish) shape at the bottom of the paper plate and wait for it to dry
4. Then spread PVA glue over the white paint and sprinkle silver glitter over it
5. When the glue and glitter has dried, shake off the excess
6. Use PVA glue to attach two googly eyes
7. Cut a triangle shape for the beak out of orange card and stick onto the plate with PVA glue (Or paint directly onto the plate)
8. Cut two leg shapes out of orange card (or painted white card) and attach these to the back of the paper plate using masking tape

Robin Red Breast

1. Paint two paper plates brown
2. Make wings for the robin by cutting one of the paper plates in half and attaching a half to the back of each side of the other paper plate
3. Using red paint, paint on oval shape towards the bottom of the paper plate
4. Once the paint has dried, spread PVA glue over it and sprinkle red glitter over the red area
5. When the glue and glitter have dried, shake off the excess glitter
6. Use PVA glue to attach two googly eyes
7. Cut a triangle shape for the beak out of orange card and stick onto the plate with PVA glue (or paint the beak  directly onto the plate with orange paint)
8. Cut two leg shapes out of yellow card and attach these to the back of the paper plate using masking tape. I sprinkled glitter onto mine too

Santa

1. Paint two paper plates red
2. Once dried, draw a hat shape on one of the painted plates and cut it out
3. Use double-sided tape to stick the hat to the top of a blank paper plate
4. Stick a white pom pom to the end of Santa’s hat with PVA glue
5. Attach the blank plate to the other red painted plate with double-sided tape
6. Paint a black belt onto the red plate
7. Paint buttons onto the red plate using yellow paint
8. To create the belt buckle you can either cut a square out of yellow card, or paint white card yellow. Then cut a square shape out of the centre of that. I sprinkled glitter onto mine too
9. Stick the buckle over the top of the belt using double-sided tape or PVA glue
10. Paint a mouth, eyes and a nose onto the top paper plate
11. Create Santa’s hair and beard by sticking cotton wool balls to the paper plate with PVA glue

Snowman

1. Stick two paper plates together using double-sided tape
2. Draw a hat shape onto a piece of black card and cut it out
3. Stick the hat to the top of one of the paper plates using double-sided tape
4. Use tissue paper to make a scarf by wrapping it around the point where the two paper plates join
5. Twist two pipe cleaners together to make an arm for the snowman, then repeat
6. Stick the arms to the back of the paper plate with masking tape
7. Paint eyes, the mouth and buttons on the snowman with black paint
8. Use orange paint to make the snowman’s nose

So there we have it, our Christmas paper plate crafts. A fun activity to try with the kids over the festive break. What designs would you create?

I have lots more ideas which I think I will try out with Molly.

Sam x