Kids Crafts | Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft Project Idea

Paper Plate Scarecrow Craft by Rachel Paxton

Kids love scarecrows, and fall is a great time to do scarecrow crafts with your preschool aged child. With a paper plate and some other items you may already have laying around your house, you and your child can create this scarecrow craft in no time.

Supplies needed:

Paper plates
Google eyes
Brown construction paper
Orange construction paper
Raffia
Red pipe cleaner
Craft feathers
Scissors
Rubber cement
Glue gun (optional)

Note: Many of the above items can be substituted with things you might already have. For instance, you can use felt or craft foam instead of construction paper, or straw or shredded paper instead of raffia. Your child could also draw the face with markers instead of gluing it on.

To get started, cut several pieces of raffia about 3-4 inches long. This will be the scarecrow's hair. Next glue the raffia to each side edge of the plate, toward the top. The hat will cover the top edge of the hair. I chose to use hot glue for this step and did the gluing for my children. The hot glue works the best to get the raffia stuck on there quickly.

Next use the scissors to cut a hat out of brown construction paper. You can make any shaped hat your child would like. If your child is old enough to cut out a shape, draw the hat on the paper for him and let him cut it out himself. Then have your child brush some rubber cement on the back of the hat and glue it on top of the scarecrow's hair.

After you have the hair and hat in place, have your child brush glue where the eyes will go and have him stick the eyes on. Next cut a small triangle from the orange construction paper and have your child glue the nose on the scarecrow's face.

Next cut a red pipe cleaner in half, have your child shape half of it into a mouth, and then have him glue it on the scarecrow. Last but not least, have your child place some glue on the end of a feather and have him slide it under a corner of the scarecrow's hat.

That's it! Your preschooler will be so proud of his scarecrow, he won't be able to wait to show it to everyone!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com/.