What You'll Need:

• Lots of paper plates
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Tape & glue
• Markers & crayons
• Construction paper
• String or yarn
• Extras like styrofoam balls, tissue paper, ribbons, etc

Masks
These are probably the easiest craft to make with a paper plate. All you need to do is cut out two eye-holes and a nose-hole, punch two holes on either side of the plate for ribbon or elastic (so you can tie the mask on) and then let your kids decorate their faces. Another option is to glue a popsicle stick to the bottom of the plate so it can be held in front of the face instead.

Fun Tip: Don’t confine yourself to the flat surface of your plate – try some of these 3-D ideas: Cut out construction paper and glue it to your plate; hang yarn or beads from the mask; glue yarn hair on to your mask; poke a hole in the middle of your plate and pull a balloon through – then blow up the balloon to make a funny clown nose!

Puppets
You’ll need two plates to make a puppet. Cut about 1/3 off of one plate and leave the other intact. Staple the two plates together, insides out, then turn over and decorate the front. The puppet has a pocket in the back that your kids can slip their hand into when they play with it!

Fun Tip: Cut holes in to the front of your puppet so that your fingers can stick through. Maybe make a bug puppet and your two fingers can be the antennae!

Dioramas
This is a pretty simple idea that can turn very complicated fast! We decided to just create a scene in our paper plate and then we got really carried away…our diorama is an underwater scene with a mermaid and a clam! What can you come up with?

Fun Tip: If you can keep your scene within the borders of your paper plate, then spread plastic wrap over the plate when you’re finished and tape in the back. Now your diorama looks like it’s under glass!

Dream Catchers
Dream catchers are supposed to catch your good dreams while letting the bad dreams slip through the hole in the center. To make a dream catcher out of a paper plate, begin by cutting away the center of your plate and punching 8 holes around the rim. Pull a long piece of string through each hole and then weave through each arm of string until you get to the center. Leave a small hole in the middle for the bad dreams to escape through.

Fun Tip: Decorate your plate, use colored yarn, or add beads and feathers to personalize your dream catcher. We made pretty feathers out of shiny tissue paper for our dream catcher.

Hats
We came up with two different styles of hats:

1. Our first hat is a simple flat design: just poke two holes on opposite sides of the plate and pull string through to tie under your chin. You can decorate your hat any way you want!

2. Our second hat has a bit more depth. Cut the rims off of 3 plates and staple the rims together, making each layer shorter than the one before so that you create a cone shape. Top off the hat with a center piece of plate stapled to the top. Styrofoam balls can make fun toppers, too!

Looking for more plate ideas?

• Check out Kristi’s fun paper plate idea to Bring the Food Pyramid to Life. This exercise is both crafty and educational!



• Crayola.com is the best place for craft ideas. Visit their site to see what they’re doing with paper plates.



• Family Crafts offers a long list of fun paper plate activities for you and your kids.