April Animals

Today's one of those days where we're stuck indoors, my daughter is full of pent-up energy and I have a gazillion things I need to do around the house. I needed to find a way to preoccupy her with something creative so I can get some chores done around the house and came across a simple idea: Paper plate animals! Such a simple craft that I knew would keep her busy for at least 20 minutes! Here's what you need:


- A tablecloth or newspaper to cover your dining room table
- Various colors of paints, crayons or markers
- A stack of paper plates
- Scissors (for me, not her)
- Glue stick
- A plastic cup you don't care about (I always reuse the same red Solo cup) with water
- Paint brushes
- A paper plate, paint palette or egg carton to pour the paint into
- Paper towels

1) Put your table cloth or newspaper on the table
2) If using paint, fill plastic cup with water for rinsing brushes and have paper towels ready to dry them off
3) Pour paint (I use a quarter-sized amount) onto a paper plate, palette or in egg carton
4) Give your child a few paper plates (3 or 4 will do but I gave her 10... the longer she's busy the better!)
5) Have your child paint/color the back of each paper plate a different color. While your child is busy with the plates, now is a good time to run the vacuum or throw a load of laundry into the wash. Just stay close by to make sure your child's inner Picasso stays at the table and not on the walls, floors, etc :)


After my daughter was done painting her plates, she wanted to take a break, which gave the plates time to dry. 20 minutes later she was ready for the second part of the activity.

Next, you'll want to cut various shapes out of your construction paper for the eyes, mouths, wings, etc for your child to glue onto the plates

Then have your child glue the shapes onto each plate

Until you finally have finished critters! 

If you want to be super awesome, you can cut holes onto the plates for eyes instead of gluing shapes, hole-punch a hole on either side of the face and attach a rubber band to make instant masks... Or glue the plates to popsicle sticks and have puppets! :)