Paper plates are one of the most inexpensive and versatile craft items you can find. With a little imagination, some scissors, markers and glue, you can transform your paper dinnerware into all kinds of fun things. Here’s a list of ten of the easiest crafts made from paper plates.

1. Mask – Kids love to make their own masks. Let them decide how to decorate the mask. They could just use crayons or markers for this, or be a bit more creative and add pieces of yarn for hair or a beard. You may need to help them cut the holes for the eyes and attach a string or piece of elastic to hold it to their head.
2. Angel – This one will require some instruction. Begin by cutting a large triangle from the plate, but leaving the bottom edge rounded and fluted; this becomes the body and gown of the angel. The two side pieces that were cut off the plate are reattached on each side to form the wings. A round circle is attached to the point of the triangle to become the head. Decorate further with glitter to make the angel sparkle.
3. Fan – All you need for this craft are markers and a wooden craft stick. Allow the kids to decorate their ‘fan’ with bright colored designs and then attach the craft stick to make it complete.
4. Flowers – Paper plates are ideal for creating large flowers. Have the kids color the curved edges that will be the petals and then color the center a different color or decorate it with a smiley face. Make cuts around the plate to create depth for the ‘petals’ and then attach the flower heads to a dowel or inexpensive wooden ruler.
5. Puppet – For these, your final step will be to attach the plate to a dowel or ruler, as you did for the flowers. Puppet faces could be people (the king and queen) or animals.
6. Snowman – The 3-tiered snowman can be made from one large plate and one medium sized plate; then use a small plate or bowl for the head. Add cotton balls to the two larger plates and perhaps around the rim of the face. Chocolate chips or licorice pieces can be used instead of coal for buttons and eyes.
7. Bear – One small plate and one big plate, plus some construction paper, are needed for this project. The large plate becomes the body of the bear and the small plate is attached near the top to form the head. Cut small ears, two arms and two legs from construction paper and attach to the head and body. Draw a big black nose and two eyes and a mouth for the face.
8. Kitty – To create a kitty face from a paper plate, you need your scissors to cut a chunk out of the top of the plate, leaving an ‘ear’ on each side. Color pink triangles in the ears to set them off and a pink triangle pointing downward in the middle of the plate for the kitty’s nose. Use a black crayon to draw whiskers coming out from each side and two big black eyes above the nose.
9. Butterfly – You can find a pattern for cutting butterfly wings out of your paper plate by following this link. You can also read the instructions and see a picture of the finished product on Daniellesplace.com.  Just scroll down a bit and you’ll find it.
10. Turkey – For Thanksgiving, you may want to have the kids create turkey’s from their paper plates. There are several different turkey patterns on Daniellesplace.com, but my favorite is one that uses three layers of colorful paper plate rims for the turkey’s tail.

These are some of the simplest paper plate craft projects for kids to do. You can find many more, with more complexity at Daniellesplace.com and other craft sites on the internet.