An easy, vibrant bird craft for toddlers and preschoolers

Spring is in the air.  We can feel it right around the corner, so to hurry it along we made these easy and adorable paper plate birds today.

Truth be told, we didn’t actually use paper plates for our birds because I didn’t have enough to go around.   I simply cut our circles (I traced a child’s plate) out of white cardboard.  A cereal box would to the trick too.

We’ve used this technique before for our “rockin’ robins”, so be sure to check those out too, if you’re looking for another Spring or bird related craft for toddlers and preschoolers.

I have to say that I’m just in love with today’s vibrant version of the craft.  What a fun burst of colour as we await Spring!

Gather your supplies:

• Paper plate (or cardboard circle)
• googly eyes
• yellow cardstock for beak
• thin strips of coloured construction paper
• craft feathers (you could also use crumpled squares of tissue paper – see our Rockin’ Robin Craft)
• paint
• glue

For your convenience, I’m including Amazon Affiliate links in this post:

We started by FOLDING our paper plates in half.  Do NOT cut it in half.  You need to fold it in order for your bird to stand up  when you’re finished.

I set out a pallet of acrylic paints in assorted colours, and the hooligans painted their birds however they wished.  A quick blast with the hair dryer had them moving onto the next step in no time.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  If you have a spare hair dryer, move it into your craft room for speeding up the drying process when you’re crafting with your little ones.  

Next, we glued on the feathers, eyes and the beak.

For the tail, I grabbed several strips of the construction paper and I folded them in half, kind of fanning the strips out a bit, and we stapled those to the tail end of the birds.

Fold your bird back in half, and you’re done!

If your bird won’t stay folded, simply tape a piece of yarn or string to the inside, holding both halves of the plate together, while leaving about an inch and a half gap between them.

Now when you place your bird on a hard surface, you can “rock” it.

How cute and how easy was that?

BRING ON SPRING!

On a side note, I am often asked what kind of camera I use.  I shoot with a Canon Rebel XS.  It’s an entry-level DSLR Camera, and I absolutely LOVE it!  I bought it just over a year ago, and thought I would use it only for special occasions.  Wrong!  I haven’t used my point and shoot since!  My Canon is my “baby”!  You can check it out here: