Kid-Approved Paper Plate Crafts for Sunday School

 

Most kids love crafts, and even if they don’t love crafts, they love some of the aspects of crafts! Every craft is not one size fits all, so it is important that as you are planning your Sunday School crafts that you cater to the activities and tasks of the kids you are working with! Some aspects of crafts can be pre-made, to help make the best use of time during class or to customize parts of the craft to make them age-appropriate for your class (e.g. cutting ahead of time for toddlers). Are we on the same page? Or should we say plate? Ok! Great! 

Paper plates are an easy and affordable find, and you likely already have some on hand that can be used for these fun craft ideas. Make the best use of your budget by shopping for them at your local dollar store or make it simple by picking some up on your weekly grocery run. If you don’t use them all up for your crafts, you now have something for snack time or your next potluck. 

Crafts can be done in any class with almost any amount of time. It is best to plan out your class schedule ahead of time, and if you want the craft to be the main part of the day, have the kids help with the majority of the steps in the classroom. If you want to do other things in your classroom, lots of steps can be prepped ahead of time so that the children only do a few of the finishing steps of the craft. The helpful thing about these crafts is they can take up as little or as much time as you need. 

Here are six of our favorite, kid-approved paper plate crafts for you to utilize! Each craft includes a recommended Bible story or verse, a supply list, step by step instructions, and a finished product photo!

Fish Plate - Luke 5:1-9 - The Miraculous Catching of Fish

Fish play a significant role in many stories throughout the Bible, so a fish paper plate craft can be utilized for multiple lessons. A specific lesson is suggested above, “The Miraculous Catching of Fish”, but feel free to use this craft as you see fit in any fish story from the Bible. 

SUPPLY LIST

-Paper plate

-White paper

-Multicolored paper

-Black marker

-Glue

-Scissors

-(Suggested)-

-Blue paint

-Paintbrush

-Circle paper punch

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Paint plate blue and let dry. (This step is optional as the fish can be left white if not enough time is available).
2. Cut a fish mouth out of a paper plate.
3. Cut/punch white paper circles (for the eye) and multicolored paper circles (for scales)
4. Color black dot for the eye on a white circle.
5. Glue eye and tail to fish. 
6. Fold scale circles in half and glue to fish as well.

 

Lion Plate – Daniel 6 - Daniel and the Lion’s Den

Daniel and the Lion’s Den is not the only lesson this craft can be used for, but it is probably the most appropriate one. The lion plate can also be used as a part of a Noah’s Ark craft, but if you’re looking for a fun addition to your Daniel lesson this is the craft for you!

SUPPLY LIST

-1 paper plate

-Yellow paint (to make this craft easier, skip the paint/paintbrush and spray paint all the plates yellow ahead of time so that one task is already done)

-Paintbrush

-1 box of rotini noodles (1 box will make a good 6-7 plates, but this is dependent on how big of bag/box you buy and also if you want to fill the entire plate with noodles or you could always just do some scattered noodles and not cover the whole plate)

-Googly eyes

-Orange/brown construction paper

-Glue

-Black/brown marker

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Paint plate completely yellow with yellow paint and paintbrush

2. After the plate has dried, take rotini, and glue each rotini piece around the side of the plate

3.Glue on googly eyes, and nose.

4.Once glue has dried, draw on a mouth

5.ROAR!

 

 

Day & Night Plate – Genesis 1:5 God Created Day & Night

A day and night plate is a great way to tell a part of the Creation story, but it can also be used in any other story to discuss how many days and nights passed (40 days and nights of rain, in the tomb for nights, etc.). Turning the plate from day to night can be the equivalent of one-day passing and you can even have the kids turn their plates with you to reflect the number of days that have passed. 

SUPPLY LIST

-2 paper plates per child

-Blue, black, and white paint

-Paintbrushes

-Sun, moon, and cloud stickers (optional, these can also be drawn)

-Knife

-Scissors

-Paper fastener

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Paint half the plate blue and half the plate black.
2. Splatter white paint on the black sky to resemble stars.
3. After the paint dries add sun, moon, and cloud stickers to the appropriate side.
4. Cut plate #2 in half. 
5. Put plate #2 on top of plate #1 and use a knife to poke a hole through both pieces in the same spot.
6. Inset paper fastener. 

 

Sunshine Plate – Genesis 1:14 - God Created the Sun

Sunshine can be found throughout the Bible, so the Sunshine Plate can be used to go along with any story or verse that talks about the sun, but it probably goes best with the Creation story in Genesis! The cutting pictured, is done in a sort of sideways square shape, but it can be any shape the kids can do (if they are cutting), triangles, zig zagged, the suns rays are never perfect and they are never the same so let them have fun with cutting!

SUPPLY LIST

-1 paper plate

-Yellow paint or yellow crayons/markers

-Paintbrush

-2 googly eyes

-Glue

-Marker (any color to draw the mouth and nose)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. The first step can be either 1 or 2, but the easiest option (just in case someone messes up their cutting), is probably to cut out the sun rays with the scissors.
2. Paint or color the entire plate yellow.
3. Add on googly eyes with glue.
4. Draw on the mouth and nose. 

 

Rainbow Plate – Genesis 5-9 – Noah’s Rainbow

The rainbow is a great craft to use with the story of Noah and the Ark! It can also be used as a craft for a Sunday where God’s Promises are being discussed. The rainbow was the symbol of a promise from God! This craft can be made with paint, crayons, markers, colored pencils, or even by gluing construction paper onto a paper plate. 

SUPPLY LIST

-1 paper plate

-Scissors

-Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple paint/crayons/markers/colored pencils/construction paper

-Cotton balls

-Glue

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the paper plate in half. (This can be done ahead of time to save time in the classroom).
2. Make the rainbow using whichever medium you chose to use on the plate.
3. Glue cotton balls to the bottom of each side of the rainbow.

 

Sheep Mask Plate – Matthew 18:12-14 or Luke 15:3-7 - Parable of the Lost Sheep

Sheep and/or shepherds can be found throughout the Bible. One of the parables that Jesus told is about a sheep that gets lost, and how important that sheep is to God. This lesson can be taught, and it can be discussed with the children that we (all of us) are just like that lost sheep before we find Jesus and accept Him into our lives! This is a fun craft that can be used afterward to help tell a story or to play a game with as well!

SUPPLY LIST

-1 paper plate

-Glue (regular Elmer’s glue is what is used in the plate on the photo)

-Around 35 cotton balls per plate

 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Fold the paper plate in half and cut a circle (for the child’s face) out from the middle.
2. Put tiny globs of glue on the right-side-up side of the plate once the glue is on the plate press a cotton ball onto the glue.
3. Using the left-over circle cut out of the plate earlier, cut two droopy ear looking shapes and glue them to the back of the plate (as to resemble ears).

 

 

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