This peppermint paper plate craft is fun and easy to make. Plus, you get to use your child’s handprints as the candy’s wrapper! I am a sucker for handprint crafts and I am always looking for ways for my child to personalize the crafts we make together 🙂
-glue (we used a glue stick, but white school glue is okay too)
How To:
First thing I did was show my son what a peppermint is, because he apparently had no idea that’s what those little mint candies were called! Once he got the image in his mind, his creativity took over. He came up with all sorts of ways to make the candies. We ended up making 2 paper plate peppermint crafts: one with paint and one with a color pencil spiral.
Using red paint, he painted a spiral around his plate. He started in the middle and worked his way around to the outside. It was a little difficult to paint on the ribbed part of the plate. My son had to go back and touch it up a little bit so that it looked more like a solid red line. Then we let the plate dry.
While the plate is drawing, I traced my son’s hands on white paper. Then I cut out the handprints.
My son glued his handprints onto either side of the paper plate to look like the candy’s wrapper. Using a glue stick, rub some glue onto the underside of the plate and onto the handprints to make sure that they really stick onto the plate.
Let your project dry completely before showing off your cute peppermint paper plate craft 🙂
More Winter Crafts!
Christmas Cookie Cutter Coloring: Since my waist line can’t handle too many Christmas cookies, I found another way for my kiddo to use cookie cutters: a Christmas cookie cutter coloring craft!
With so many animal babies being born in the springtime, this hatching chick craft is a great way to incorporate some of that baby-cuteness into your preschooler’s activities. Use a brad to connect the top and bottom pieces of the plate to turn this into a moveable craft. Gently pull the top of your plate and watch your chick hatch!
Supplies Needed:
paper plate
scissors
yellow construction paper
glue stick
feathers
googly eyes
brad
How To:
First turn your paper plate into an egg by cutting a zig-zag line across your paper plate. Connect the two plate pieces with a brad on one side. This allows the plate to open and close so you can pretend the chick is hatching! Movable crafts are tons of fun and a great way to show “hatching.”
Next, cut an oval shape out of your yellow paper. This will be your baby chick. Glue feathers onto your chick. Our feathers were large and covered a lot of the chick so we didn’t need a beak. My son added two googly eyes and called his chick done.
Now that you chick as feathers and eyes, glue the bottom part of your chick onto the back of the bottom plate piece. Let your project dry before showing off your hatching chick craft.
For more fun spring crafts try:
Paper Plate Bunny— print off the free template, color and cut out the pieces, and glue them all onto a paper plate to make a bunny.
Mosaic Egg— use left over scraps of paper to make a beautiful mosaic egg.
Torn Paper Nest–tear up construction paper and use the pieces to make a nest.
There are so many cute bunnies pictures/crafts/decorations popping on my social media feeds this spring! I was inspired to make a bunny craft by a picture I saw of a rabbit with a flower crown. The flower crown turned a boring paper plate into an adorable bunny craft! I love how this turned out 🙂 Whether you are looking for an Easter craft or a spring activity, this bunny craft is fun and easy to make with your little one.
Print the free bunny craft template. It includes the ears, flowers, and leaves that you will need.
Color the ears, flowers, and leaves. While I usually have my son use crayons, the bold color of the markers prompted us to use them instead. After you color everything, cut out your pieces. The designs are pretty intricate so an adult should do the cutting.
Flip your plate over so that the center is now raised. Using your glue stick, glue your ears on the underside of the top of the plate. Glue your flowers and leaves around the top of the plate, making a cute crown.
For the bunny face, you will need 2 googly eyes (or draw your own), 2 pipe cleaners, and a pompom for the nose. We started by gluing on the nose. We used the white school glue to make sure that the pompom is securely attached. Then we folded our pipe cleaners in half (makes a V shape) and glued them on either side of the nose. We put a small amount of white school glue on the pipe cleaners and held them down onto the plate for a few seconds. To finish the bunny face, draw a mouth.
Let your bunny craft dry before showing off how cute it is! While your project is drying, read some EASTER STORIES together 🙂
For more spring craft ideas, check out my SPRING CRAFTS page. Happy crafting!
I love making floral wreaths for our home, and enjoy having my family help with the project. Unfortunately, other than help pick out flowers, there isn’t a lot my son could help with because he is so young. I wanted a wreath that my son could make on his own (that didn’t involve a hot glue gun) so we created a paper spring wreath. My son picked out the pictures–a bunny, carrot, and flower–and created his own craft!
1. Cut out the center of your paper plate to make your wreath.
2. Paint your wreath green. I like to use Crayola Washable Paints (Amazon Affiliate link*) because they easily wash off of my kid’s hands and our table.
5. Once your wreath is dry, arrange the pictures how you like them on your wreath and then glue them on.
6. Finish your spring wreath craft by tying a ribbon on so that your kiddo can hang their project! I used a hole punch, but you can also just loop your ribbon through the wreath and hang it that way.
*I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. If you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support!
More Spring Crafts
Looking for more craft ideas? Check out my Spring Crafts page for inspiration and instructions!
Christmas is just around the corner and kids are getting so excited! Help channel that excitement into some fun Christmas crafts. We rounded up our favorite 10 preschool Christmas crafts to share with you.
Preschool Christmas Crafts
10 Preschool Christmas Crafts:
Decoupage Santa Hat: make a Santa hat out of craft sticks and red tissue paper.
Christmas Owl Craft: adorable owls made from empty toilet paper rolls and construction paper.
Christmas Wreath: cute little wreath out of a paper plate that combines painting and coloring for lots of fun.
Candy Cane Reindeer: make a cute and yummy candy reindeer by adding pipe cleaner antlers, googly eyes, and a pom pom nose!
Fingerprint Snowy Tree: draw a barren tree with a marker and then your preschooler can paint on the snow with their fingerprints.
Craft Supplies:
I try to make crafts with supplies I already have at home because I hate having to put a project on hold to run to the store and get supplies. So if anytime you don’t have one of the things I mentioned, feel free to substitute it with something you have at home — there’s no wrong way to craft!
My go-to supplies are: construction paper, craft sticks (popsicle sticks), tissue paper, pompoms, Crayola glitter glue, paper plate, crayons, water color and Crayola Washable Paints, white school glue, and a glue stick. I’ve joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to help cover the costs of my site. So if you click on a product that I have on my site and buy something on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for support! I don’t ever recommend anything that I have not personally used and loved 🙂
My kiddo who was anti-coloring for so long, now wants to color! And all of the time, too. So we made this fun little Christmas wreath craft together that is perfect for kids of all ages. Toddlers can scribble to their hearts’ content; preschoolers can carefully choose their colors for each pictures; and older kiddos can add glitter and sequins.
1. Cut out the center of your paper plate to make your wreath.
2. Paint your wreath green. We used water color paints, but any green paint will work. I like to use Crayola Washable Paints, but we couldn’t find them in our messy craft cabinet (grrr), so we opted for water colors.
4. Cut out your Christmas pictures. They were a little too complicated for my kiddo to cut out, so I did it. As you can see, I left a little bit of a white border around them.
5. Once your wreath is dry, arrange the pictures how you like them on your wreath and then glue them on.
6. Finish your preschool Christmas wreath craft by tying a ribbon on so that your kiddo can hang their project! I used a hole punch, but you can also just loop your ribbon through the wreath and hang it that way.
More Crafts
I love making crafts with my kiddo, and since Christmas crafts are just so cute, we’ve made quite a few together. Check out my Winter Crafts Page for more fun crafts that you and your little one can make together. We’ve traced cookie cutters and made paper cookies, decoupage Santa hats, fluffy candy canes, and more!
Make a cute fox paper plate craft with your preschooler! Foxes go so well fall themes. Pair your craft with the fox books, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson, and Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina.
Supplies Needed:
-paper plate
-orange tissue paper
-glue stick
-black pompom
-2 googly eyes
-scissors
-stapler
How to Make a Fox Paper Plate Craft:
Step 1: Cut a large triangle out of your paper plate. This will be the fox’s head/face.
Step 2: Next cut 2 small triangles out of the the paper plate to be the ears. Staple the ears onto the fox’s head.
Step 3: Our orange tissue paper came in 1-inch squares. If yours is not already this size, then cut or tear your tissue into 1-inch pieces. Glue your tissue all over your fox’s face and ears. It’s okay if your tissue sticks off of the side of your plate. You can just fold it over and glue the excess onto the back, or trim off the extra tissue paper.
Step 4: Once your craft is dry, add 2 googly eyes and a black pompom nose to your fox.
More Fall Crafts:
Fall is my favorite season and I just love to make fall crafts with my son! Foxes, owls, leaves, and pumpkins make such cute and fun crafts. Check out my list of fall crafts for more things to make with your preschooler 🙂
Make a Paper Plate Hedgehog with your preschooler! This craft is simple, but pretty cute and kids love getting to use scissors. Since we color a lot, I decided to mix things up and get out the watercolors for my kiddo to decorate his hedgehog. The plate is thick, so watercolors worked great on it without causing any warping. I absolutely love hedgehogs and have quite a few decorating our house, so I was really excited to make a hedgehog craft with my little guy.
Paper Plate Hedgehog
Supplies Needed :
-1 white paper plate
-pencil
-scissors
-watercolor paints
-paintbrush
-scissors
Making the Hedgehog:
First I cut a paper plate in half and discarded one of the pieces.
Then I drew a basic hedgehog face shape with a sloping forehead and a long, pointy nose, and cut off the excess plate.
My son used his watercolor paints to turn his plate into a blue hedgehog.
The watercolor paints dry pretty quickly, so he didn’t have to wait long to makes cuts along the top of his plate and make hedgehog quills.
After he made all of the cuts, we gently pulled the quills apart to give them a spiky look.
He finished his craft off with some googly eyes.
My kiddo was so proud of this craft! I took pictures of him holding his project and texted them to his grandparents. He loved getting to use scissors and paints 🙂
Looking to make more fall crafts? Check out my FALL CRAFTS page for more ideas. We made all sorts of great crafts: paper plate foxes, turkeys, paper bag puppet scarecrows, handprint pumpkins, and lots more!
For everyone with a Mickey Mouse-obsessed child, here is a Halloween craft for you! Make this tissue paper Mickey Mouse pumpkin craft with your little one and celebrate the holiday Disney style 🙂 My son loves Mickey and Halloween, so this craft was perfect for him! It is easy to make and doesn’t need many supplies.
Supplies Needed:
1 paper plate
Orange tissue paper cut into squares
Black construciton paper
Glue stick
Scissors
Pencil
How to Make the Mickey Mouse Pumpkin Craft:
First glue orange tissue squares all over the paper plate. We found it easiest to slather the plate in glue and then add on the tissue. For tissue that hung over the side, we just folded it over and glued the extra to the back.
Next, draw eyes, mouth, and ears on the construction paper. (I used a container lid to trace the circles for the ears.)
If your preschooler wants to practice their scissors skills, then they can cut out the shapes, otherwise the grown-up can cut them out.
Glue eyes and mouth on top of the tissue paper. We found it easier to apply the glue stick to the back of the black paper, rather than on top of the tissue paper. When we tried to add glue on top of the tissue, the tissue moved a wrinkled a bit.
Glue ears to the back of the plate. My son and I each pressed an ear against the back the plate for 30 seconds to let the glue set in.
More. . .
I hope you enjoyed this Mickey Moues pumpkin craft! Mickey is always a hit with my kiddo:) We paired this craft with reading one of his favorite Halloween board books, Haunted Clubhouse, featuring Mickey and friends at a Clubhouse Halloween Party! This book is pretty cute, but short. It has pictures of your little one’s favorite Clubhouse friends and fun, see-through cutouts in the pages that keeps children enthralled with this book.
Letter D is awesome — Dinosaurs, Dogs, Donuts, and Ducks! This was a fun week for my preschooler. We read books about his favorite animals, ate donuts, danced along to We are the Dinosaurs, and made a neat Froot Loops Tower.
Monday — D is for Dinosaur
Writing Practice: write uppercase D. For this letter, we used a worksheet from AtoZteacherstuff.com:
Book: Crunch the Shy Dinosaurby Cirocco Dunlap. This is a fun, interactive book that really engages with the reader. Young children will have a blast getting to know Crunch by saying hello, singing Happy Birthday, and introducing themselves. It also encourages the reader to take into consideration that other people (and dinosaurs) might be shy when you first meet them and to let them have some quiet space to adjust to new people.
Check your library for Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur, or buy it on Amazon.
Craft / Activity:Dinosaur Coloring Page — use your creativity and color or paint an awesome dino picture! Then, Find 5 Differences between these 2 dinosaur scenes:
Song: This was great excuse to sing along to our of my favorite preschool songs, We Are the Dinosaurs by the Laurie Berkner Band. Watch the music video on YouTube and march along!
Tuesday —
STEM: Build a Froot Loops Tower. This project is great for working on fine-motor skills!
Froot Loops Tower
Supplies needed are Play-Doh, a dry spaghetti noodle, and Froot Loops cereal.
First, make a mound out of Play-Doh to use as your tower’s base.
Second, stick a spaghetti noodle into the center of the base and make sure to really smush the Play-Doh around the bottom of the noodle so that it stands up.
Now it is time to make the tower and work on fine motor skills! Take your Froot Loops and carefully drop each down the noodle, making a tower as they stack. Have fun making color patterns. Bonus, you get to eat the cereal after your are done making towers 😉
Air Writing: Ask your child to hold up a hand and trace letter shapes with their finger in the air. I was skeptical of this at first, but my son really got into it and I found him air writing his letters all on his own.
“Dog I Spy” Worksheet: practice counting with this cute dog-themed I Spy picture.
Books — We read dog stories! My son loves Karma Wilson’s book, A Dog Named Doug. Doug the dog is a digging machine. He digs a holes to everywhere and gets into a bit of trouble along the way. The book ends happily with Doug digging a hole into his family’s bedroom for a bedtime cuddle. My son loves this book and he laughs every single time we read it. We have checked this out from our library numerous times, and we hope you will check it from yours too! It is also available on Amazon if you want to buy it.
We also read Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Dog a Donut. Turns out if you give a dog a donut, a great story ensues! This cute story is a fun read-aloud and good introduction to sequencing. Find a copy at your library, or buy on Amazon.
Craft — Paper Plate Donut. Supplies needed are paper plate, light brown watercolor paint and paintbrush, construction paper (we used pink), scissors, white glue, and sprinkles.
1. First my son painted the entire plate light brown.
2. While it was drying, we picked our construction paper for the donut icing. We went with the classic pink for our donut, but also strongly considered brown for a chocolate icing. I cut out a wavy shape in the pink paper.
3. After the donut plate was dry, I cut out the center to give it the donut shape.
4. My son used white, school glue to attach the icing to the plate.
5. Last, he glued on sprinkles to complete his paper plate donut 🙂
Songs — For letter D, we sang the “Donut Song.” If you don’t know this song, you can check it out on YouTube. My son loves this song and he sings it all of the time!
Thursday —
Salt Tray Writing: cover the bottom of a shallow tray or pie tin with a layer of table salt. Your child can take one finger to trace letter shapes in the salt. Make bother uppercase D and lowercase d.
Worksheet: Draw a line from the lowercase d to all of the uppercase D letters.
Book:Little Quack’s New Friendby Lauren Thompson. The whole Little Quack series is adorable, but I am partial to this one because I love the new froggy friend. This Little Quack story embodies preschooler’s shyness about meeting new people, but children’s innate playfulness and curiosity wins over and everyone has fun playing together. Plus, this story is full of fun sound words to say!
There are many cute stories in the Little Quack series. Hopefully your library has this one and others. It is available for purchase on Amazon.
Craft: Color and Feathers Duck Craft — supplies needed are duck coloring sheet, crayons, white school feathers, and glue.
Here’s the coloring page we used. I found on getcoloringpages.com. Feel free to draw your own duck or cut out a duck shape from construction paper if you don’t like this one.
We used crayons to color our duck. My son worked hard to color within the lines!
Then we picked out feathers for our duck and attached them with white, school glue.
Song: Raffi’s Five Little Ducks. I really enjoy doing hand movements to this song. We hold up fingers on one hand for the five little ducks, folding down fingers as the ducks go over the hill. The other is our mama duck and we keep our fingers together and move them up and down to touch the thumb to make a mouth movement for the quacking parts. If you don’t know this song, it’s available on YouTube.
