Forest Paper Plate Animals
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Use these forest paper plate animals to learn about deer, bears, and raccoons, practice fine motor skills, and read fun forest stories.
The forest is full of some amazing creatures, including bears, deer, and raccoons. I love making animal paper plate crafts, so I’m adding forest animals to my collection, especially with fall around the corner. These easy peasy crafts are great to do at home or in the classroom. The cute animals are fun to hang up on the walls or to use as puppets during fun read-alouds. Take a look at how easy these forest paper plate animal crafts are to do.
How-to Video:
Materials Needed to Make Forest Animals
You only need a few craft supplies to create these adorable paper plate animals. Use the eye templates on my site or grab googly eyes to make the crafts super silly.
- Dessert Size Paper Plates
- Paint in tan, brown, and gray.
- Construction Paper in black, grey, and two shade of brown.
- FREE Eye Template
- Pink buttons
- FREE Forest Animal Template
How to Make the Forest Paper Plate Animals
Here I will lay out how to piece together each forest animal from their cute smiles to their button noses. Each activity is perfect for a crafty morning or a study on forest animals with your kids. Read out some fun facts about each animal as your kids work. Follow the instructions below!
Instructions to Make a Forest Bear
Read an adorable story about a bear and then let kids make their own paper plate bear. It’s an easy project to complete after a quick study on bears.
- Paint your paper plate brown.
- Cut out your template pieces and glue them onto the back side of the plate.
- Attach the pink buttons for the bear’s cheeks.
Instructions to Make a Forest Raccoon
This is a cute craft to make after reading a story like The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. It’s a kid’s classic and a great way to get rid of first day jitters if kids head off to school.
- Paint your paper plate gray. I cut the bottom off a little to give his face more of a triangular shape rather than a complete circle.
- Cut out your template pieces and glue them onto the back side of the plate. You may have to trim the edges of some of the pieces so they don’t hang off the plate.
- Attach the pink buttons for the raccoon’s cheeks.
Instructions to Make the Forest Deer
Any time is the perfect time to make a paper plate deer. It’s an easy animal craft that goes great in a forest themed room. younger and older kids will enjoy creating their own.
- Paint your paper plate tan.
- Cut out your template pieces and glue them onto the back side of the plate. You may have to trim the edges of some of the pieces so they don’t hang off the plate.
- Attach the pink buttons for the deer’s cheeks.
- Add tan dots to the deer’s forehead and you’re done!
Can These Crafts Become Masks?
It’s easy to make these adorable paper plate animal crafts into fun paper plate animal masks. Use them to recreate stories or for imaginary play. We have made so many of them that I often create some extra to have for masks and a fun puppet or two, while the others hang up on the wall or get tucked away as keepsakes.
All you have to do to turn them into masks is cut holes where the eyes would go instead of attaching the eye templates or googly eyes. Little kids will enjoy using them during playtime.
How Do Kids Make Jungle Animals
I actually have two different posts with six jungle animal crafts. These easy paper plate crafts are great for practicing fine motor skills and learning about large animals living in the jungle. In these two posts, you will learn how to create a sloth, a gorilla, a hippo, an elephant, a zebra, and a lion!
More Paper Plate Crafts
Invite kids to make even more paper plate crafts throughout the year, including a polar bear with these Paper Plate Winter Animals. Kids will also love this Adorable Paper Plate Snail and Bird Paper Plate Crafts. Don’t forget to check out the Underwater Animals, too! Creating paper plate crafts is so much fun! Just search “Paper Plate” on my site and you’ll see TONS of activities your kids will enjoy.
I hope you enjoy this fun quality time with your kids as you learn about forest animals, practice fine motor skills, and get creative together.
