Colorful Paper Plate Birds (And our favorite bird books!)

Today I'm sharing another beautiful and easy paper plate craft.   These paper plate birds are simply gorgeous.  They are also a great art and craft project to make with kids of all ages!

Paper Plate Bird Craft

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I hosted a play date with 5 other children this past summer and wanted to give them a small art activity to do.  The kids' ages ranged from 18 months - 4 years old, so the activity had to be simple to set up and easy for all the kids to do.

That's when I came up with these paper plate birds!  The kids really enjoyed painting them and the activity was so easy to set up the night before.  

Everyone took home their birds.  But we enjoyed the activity so much that we recently painted birds again as a family.  Here's how we made these lovely paper plate birds!

Let's Make some Paper Plate Birds!

First, I folded a paper plate in half.  I traced out half a bird shape.  Then, I folded the wings over and stapled the bottom of the bird closed.

Here's what the bird looked like when opened:

To get these super vibrant colors, we used our favorite liquid watercolors.  Prior to painting some of the birds, we also drew designs on them with yellow and white crayons.  These designs were "revealed" when we painted over the birds.

My husband saw how much fun we were having that he had to join in too!  Here are some birds that he and I painted alongside our son.

Our Favorite Kids Bird Picture Books

And if you're looking for some great bird picture books to go along with this project, here are some that we've enjoyed reading!  (And please let me know if you know of any other good bird books.  We're always looking for more!)

• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
• Edward the Emu
• 10 Little Rubber Ducks
• Birds
• A Nest is Noisy
• An Egg is Quiet

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find more fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of the screen.

Happy making, friends!