Highlights

Make very simple water animal crafts using used paper plates! Share this project between siblings so they can play together. Teach your kids about shapes, colors and animals that live in water while they have fun playing with their new toys.

Duration

1 Hour

Age Group

3 – 5 years

• This DIY craft is suitable for young children in preschool and nursery.

Materials and Tools

• 2 paper plates
• Yellow and Blue paint
• Colored papers (yellow, orange and blue)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Paint brush
• Pencil
• Marker

Instructions

Step 1.

Take out 2 used paper plates from your kitchen and cut it into the following shapes:

• 1 paper plate to be cut in half
• Cut the bottom part of the other paper plate (without touching the inner circle of the paper plate). Keep the cut piece.

Step 2.

Paint the paper plates with the following colors:

• Paint the ½ paper plate in yellow for the duck
• Paint the bigger paper plate in blue for the whale

Step 3.

While leaving the plates to dry, take out the colored papers and refer to the photo above. Draw and cut the following shapes:

• On the yellow art paper, draw & cut an L-shaped figure for the duck’s head.
• On the yellow art paper, draw & cut a triangle shape for the duck’s wings.
• On the orange art paper, draw & cut a pair of duck legs.
• On the orange art paper, draw & cut a small triangle for the duck’s beak.
• On the blue art paper, draw & cut the water splash above the whale’s head.
• On the blue art paper, draw & cut a rectangle for the whale’s tail.

Step 4.

Glue the animals together in the following order:

For the duck —

• Glue the beak on the tip of the duck’s head and attach it on the yellow paper plate.
• Glue the wings on top as well, beside the head.
• Glue the pair of legs at the bottom of the plate.

For the whale —

• Turn the blue plate so that the straight edge goes to the bottom.
• Glue the water splash on top of the plate.
• Glue the whale’s tale to the side of the plate.
• Also glue the cut piece from the blue paper plate to the tip of the tail. Attach it in an upright position.

Step 5.

Using a black marker, draw eyes on both the animal’s heads. You can add a smiling mouth on the whale.

Step 6.

Have your kids name the animals and let them play with it like puppets. This will improve their communication skills as they interact with their playmates.

More Fun Ideas and Expansions

Create your own DIY water animal crafts made with paper plates using these expanded fun ideas:

• To make the craft look more interesting, use googly eyes instead of just drawing them with a marker.
• For a more advanced level, trace and cut out a more defined duck/whale body from the paper plate.
• Use real feathers painted in yellow instead of just art papers.
• Try other fun crafts of different animals using paper plates.