Every child loves imaginary play, and masks make it even better. Using a paper plate to create a mask is simple and lots of fun. Take a plate and measure where the eyes and mouth should be. Make circles and allow the child to cut holes. There are hundreds of possibilities for creating masks, including African tribal masks. Analyzer.depaul.edu finds many uses for paper plates, and creating African masks is just one of them. Discussing with children how masks are used in celebrations makes the project educational and encourages use of fun colors and patterns. Using a hole punch, put holes on the sides of masks and attach string. Children can wear masks while they participate in a special celebration of their own creation.
The sun and planets look like circles, and paper plates are perfect circles just waiting to be turned into special planets of your child's own creation. Education.com suggests using yellow and orange construction paper and glue to create a colorful sun. When your child tears small pieces of yellow paper and glues them onto the paper plate, she is using fine motor skills. Have her cut out orange triangles to glue along the outside of the plate to add extra detail. When she finishes her sun, she can use other paper plates to create her own unique solar system of colorful planets by following the same technique and using other colors of paper. Add rings around planets by cutting long curved strips of construction paper and gluing them where wanted. By punching holes in plates and attaching string, the solar system can be hung and admired.
Paper plates are great for creating a mobile, and children of any age can make interesting designs. Allow children to use markers and crayons to create lines and patterns on their plates. Painting over them with water colors or tempera paint creates a resist, where the wax crayon will show through the paint. Additional materials can be added to make the plates unique, such as gluing string, construction paper or tissue paper on their plates. When finished, punch holes in plates and, using string, hang them on a long stick or wire hanger in an interesting way. Plates can even be attached to each other and hung in a vertical line if a stick or hanger isn't available for a long mobile. Hang the mobiles in a spot where they will move in the breeze.