A Fun Easy Paper Plate Umbrella Craft for Toddlers and Preschool
This is a fun, easy, flexible little
craft that uses only a few inexpensive materials. Honestly, the
child could decorate the “umbrella” part any way they want to. I
had planned on giving Little M. paint for the umbrella, which she
used to decorate one half. She asked for dot markers for the other
half, which worked even better. She also requested glitter glue to
add to the painted half. Your child could use crayons, colored
pencils, stamps, stickers, etc. Great things come when you follow
your child's lead: creativity, imagination, leadership, and
responsibility!
In addition to flexing their creativity
muscle, your child will also get a chance to work on their fine motor
skills using the eye dropper to paint the raindrops.
You will need:
- 2 paper plates
- scissors
- paint
- paintbrushes
- 1-2 coffee filters
- eye dropper
- cup
- food coloring
- pipe cleaner
- liquid glue
- string
Making the paper plate umbrella craft:
The night before, I cut a few raindrop shapes out of the coffee filters. I also cut one of the plates in half.
We started with the umbrella portion. Little M. choose a few colors of paint. I gave her a few paintbrushes and a paper plate, cut in half, one half at a time. She added in some glitter glue into the paint and stirred it all into one big brown blob (I think she might be in her brown period). She used the dot markers to decorate the other half.
When those were finished, we moved on
to the raindrops. This was so much fun! We mixed food coloring with
water in the cup. I arranged the raindrops onto the second plate and
she used the eye dropper to pick up the water and drop it on the
coffee filter raindrops.
Allow the pieces to dry for a few
hours. Shape the pipe cleaner into a handle for the umbrella. Help
your child glue the two paper plates together so that the decorated
sides both face outward. Allow them to dry as well.
We hung the finished umbrella in a window (after Little M. danced around the kitchen with it for a few minutes- LOL). If you prefer, you could use fishing line or thread instead of the yarn to tie the craft together. Little M. had so much fun making this craft, and I enjoyed the fact that it was basically two activities in one.
I hope you enjoyed this activity. If you found it useful please share or leave a comment. I would love to hear from you! Happy crafting.
We hung the finished umbrella in a window (after Little M. danced around the kitchen with it for a few minutes- LOL). If you prefer, you could use fishing line or thread instead of the yarn to tie the craft together. Little M. had so much fun making this craft, and I enjoyed the fact that it was basically two activities in one.
I hope you enjoyed this activity. If you found it useful please share or leave a comment. I would love to hear from you! Happy crafting.
I have been teaching some kids at a nearby orphanage for quite some time now. They are young & always need something creative to work on. The Umbrella Craft idea that you shared in your blog might just help me to keep the kids more engaged. I already have a few Disposable Plates in my kitchen that can be easily used to make these cute & creative umbrella craft paper plates.
ReplyDelete