Easter chick purse

What You Need: 1 dessert-size paper plate; nontoxic yellow paint; paintbrush; stapler; scrap of orange cardstock or construction paper; googly eye; black marker; scissors; glue; orange pipe cleaner (or use yarn).

How to Make It: Paint at least half of bottom of paper plate yellow. Let dry. Fold in half and secure with staples (adult help, please!). Use black marker to outline a chick wing. Cut triangle shape for beak and glue on. Glue on eye. Staple pipe cleaner to back side of “purse” for handle.

St. Patrick's Day wand

Let kids paint, color or use markers all over dessert-sized paper plates to make this fun clover wand for St. Patrick’s Day.

What You Need: 3 dessert-sized paper plates; green paint, crayons or markers; gold glitter; Stapler; drinking straw (green if available); green crepe paper streamers.

How to Make It: Color all 3 paper plates green. If paint was used, sprinkle gold glitter on while still wet. Otherwise, you’ll need a little glue. Adult staples paper plates together in shamrock shape and then staples to straw. Tie and/or staple green streamer to straw.

Paper plate bird

Let kids explore their creativity and create an entire flock of birds using paper plates, pipe cleaners, cardstock scraps and paper punches. I saw this idea in Woman’s World magazine.

What You Need: 1 sturdy, colored paper plate (we used dessert size);  1 or 2 pipe cleaners; cardstock scraps; paper punches; googly eye; glue and/or tape.

How to Make It: Cut paper plate in half and then cut one of the halves into three triangles. Use scissors to make “fringe” for tailfeathers and wing. Tape pipe cleaners (however long you’d like your bird’s legs and neck to be) as shown. Bend them if you want, for crooked neck or legs. Tape paper plate triangle to top of neck and add beak cut from cardstock. Glue on plastic eye. Cut feet and tape to legs. Punch out shapes and glue to body.

Paper plate lion

Dessert-size paper plates are the perfect size to make masks for little preschool faces. Don’t limit kids to lions; set out a variety of supplies (yarn, paint, etc.) and let their creativity go wild.

What You Need: dessert-size paper plate; yellow crepe paper; black marker; 3 orange pipe cleaners; transparent tape; scissors.

How to Make It: First adult must cut out triangles for eyes and nose and cut pipe cleaners in half. Cut crepe paper into eight strips about 5 inches long. Tape to back (curved size) of paper plate. Draw around eye holes with black marker. Tape three pipe cleaners to each side for whiskers.

What You Need: sturdy, white, high-rimmed paper plate (such as Chinet), black tempera paint, 4 to 6 marbles, plastic spider ring.

How You Make It: Apply many tiny (1/8″ or so) dots of black paint scattered around the paper plate. (Adult might need to do this for the youngest kids.) Child places marbles in plate and gently rolls them around to create web-like designs. Once dry, place or glue spider ring in plate. You can cut off the ring part if you’d like.

Safety Alert: Marbles can pose a choking hazard. Only do this craft with children who are developmentally ready to play with small objects.

What You Need: Two thin paper plates (we used 6″), craft or bingo daubers, large googly eye, glue

How You Make It: You can use the daubers before or after you cut and assemble the paper plate parts. Cut fins out of one paper plate and glue to other paper plate as shown, or however you’d like. Cut out triangle “mouth.” Glue on googly eye.