Easy Paper Plate Animal Crafts for Kids

Easy Paper Plate Animal Crafts for Kids

Paper plates are one of the easiest craft materials to turn into something creative.

With a paper plate, some paint or crayons, coloured paper and a little imagination, children can create their own animals while practising cutting, gluing, colouring and fine motor skills.

These paper plate animal crafts are suitable for preschool and primary-aged children and can easily be adapted depending on a child’s age and ability.

What You’ll Need

Most of these activities use the same basic materials: paper plates, coloured paper or cardstock, crayons or washable paint, child-safe scissors, glue, pencils or markers, googly eyes if available, and optional craft items such as pom-poms, wool or tissue paper.

You don’t need every material. Encourage children to use whatever craft supplies are available.

10 Easy Paper Plate Animal Ideas

1. Paper Plate Lion
   Paint or colour the plate yellow. Cut strips of orange, yellow or brown paper and glue them around the edge to create the lion’s mane. Add paper ears, eyes, a nose and a smiling mouth. Children can also draw whiskers with a marker.
2. Paper Plate Frog
   Colour the paper plate green. Cut two large circles for the eyes and attach them to the top of the plate. Add a long strip of red paper for the tongue and green paper legs. Draw a big frog smile across the front.
3. Paper Plate Fish
   Paint the plate in any bright colour. Cut a triangle from coloured paper for the tail and smaller shapes for the fins. Add an eye and decorate the body with dots, stripes, scales or colourful tissue-paper pieces.
4. Paper Plate Bear
   Colour the plate brown, black or white depending on the type of bear. Add two round paper ears at the top. Cut an oval for the muzzle, add a nose and draw the mouth. Children can make a brown bear, polar bear or panda.
5. Paper Plate Bunny
   Colour the plate white, grey or any imaginative colour. Cut two long bunny ears from paper and glue them behind the plate. Add a small nose, whiskers and two large front teeth. Cotton wool can be added for extra texture.
6. Paper Plate Tiger
   Colour the plate orange and add black stripes using a marker, crayon or strips of paper. Attach round ears, large eyes and a muzzle. Finish with a nose and whiskers.
7. Paper Plate Panda
   Leave most of the plate white. Add two black ears, black eye patches and a black nose using coloured paper or crayons. A simple smile completes the panda face.
8. Paper Plate Owl
   Colour the plate brown, purple, blue or another favourite colour. Add two large circular eyes and a small triangle-shaped beak. Cut wings from coloured paper and attach them to both sides. Children can decorate the owl with feathers, spots or patterns.
9. Paper Plate Turtle
   Colour the plate green and decorate it with patterns to create the turtle’s shell. Cut out a head, four legs and a small tail from green paper. Glue them behind the edge of the plate so they extend outward.
10. Paper Plate Butterfly
    Decorate the paper plate with colourful patterns, then cut it in half. Use each half as a butterfly wing. Attach the wings to a paper body and add antennae using paper strips, pipe cleaners or drawn lines.

Let Children Make Their Own Choices

The finished craft doesn’t need to look exactly like an example.

A purple lion, rainbow turtle or spotted blue frog can be just as valuable as a realistic animal.

Giving children choices about colours, patterns and decorations encourages creativity and gives them ownership of their work.

Extend the Learning

You can also turn the craft into a learning conversation.

While creating an animal, talk about where it lives, what it eats, how it moves and the sounds it makes.

For example, while making a turtle you might ask:

Where do turtles live?

What protects a turtle’s body?

How does a turtle move?

This allows the craft activity to combine creativity with language, science and general knowledge.

Skills Children Can Practise

Paper plate crafts can support fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, cutting and gluing, colour recognition, creativity, decision-making, vocabulary and imaginative play.

For younger children, an adult can prepare difficult shapes beforehand. Older children can draw and cut their own pieces independently.

Keep Creating With PlayPrintGrow

Paper plate crafts are inexpensive, simple to prepare and easy to adapt for different ages.

Try one animal today, then let your child choose which animal they would like to create next.

Play. Create. Learn. Grow.