Easy Farm Animal Paper Plate Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Learn how to make four different easy plate farm animals with this tutorial. These are the perfect easy farm animal activities for preschoolers and young kids!
Farm animals are a favorite subject among young kids, so try this simple craft to make easy farm animals with them! These paper plate farm animals are great for little hands, and the perfect craft to go with any farm books or activities. We use simple shapes to make these cute farm animal crafts for even more learning fun!
There’s quite a few different animals you can choose from when doing farm animal crafts, but here’s four of our favorites that are easy for young children. If your child is really interested in different farm animals, it’s easy to adapt this project to what they want to do. You can change the color of construction paper you use with the same basic template for new animals.
These fun farm animal crafts are a great way to learn and practice shapes as well. Whether you’re doing a whole farm unit or just looking for one of these cute animals, your kids will have so much fun with this project!
This fun collection of projects was created for Mimosas & Motherhood by guest blogger Michele of Apple Blocks and Crayons. Michele is a mom of three and grandma of two with over 28 years of experience in early childhood education. Currently finishing her PhD, Michele has served as a teacher, professor, director, and principal, and is passionate about teaching parents the importance of learning through play.
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Supplies You’ll Need for Paper Plate Farm Animals
You can either make the animals all together or one at a time with the same simple supplies. Everything you need can be found at the local craft or dollar store.
We did all four of the animals at the same time, and this is everything we used:
- Construction Paper (black, brown, pink, yellow, orange, and tan for all four animals)
- White paper plates
- Googly eyes (40 mm)
- Glue with Q-tips
- Scissors
How to Make an Easy Pig Craft
This paper plate pig craft is a great addition to any farm animal activities, and one of my grandson’s favorite crafts to make. It’s also a great craft if you’re doing the story of the little pigs! For our pig we used pink and black construction paper cut into triangle shapes.
1. First, cut the raised sides of the paper plate off for your child. This makes it easier for the pieces of paper to stick. The first time we tried without cutting off the sides, the paper triangles would slide down the sides which frustrated my grandson.
2. Next, cut out pink triangles (or whatever shape you want to practice) either before starting the craft or with your child if they’re practicing scissor use. Scissor use is a fun way to get in some fine motor skills, too! (Not sure where to start with scissors skills for your toddler or preschooler? Check out these tips for starting and practicing using scissors with little kids.)
It’s easiest to cut long strips of the paper first. Then, cut the strips into triangles.
3. Next, have your child glue the triangles onto the paper plate to fill up the entire plate. For my three-year-old grandson, we like to use a Q-tip to put dots of paint all over the plate, but if your child is comfortable pouring the glue from the bottle that works, too. You may have to help glue down some of the edges of the triangles, so they’re securely on the plate.
4. Then, glue on the pig’s face and ears including the googly eyes, oval nose, and pink ears. Lastly, draw on the mouth with a black marker and added some black paper circles for the nose.
Below is an image showing all the steps:
How to Make an Easy Cow Craft
Another perfect addition to any farm activities is a cow! We chose to do a black and white cow, but you could also make a brown cow. For our cow, we used black construction paper circles, and a little bit of pink construction paper for the nose.
1. For the cow, you don’t necessarily have to cut off the edges of the plate since the cow is supposed to be white with black patches. So, the first thing you’ll do is cut out black circles. Circles can be challenging for young kids to cut out, but they can still try right along with you!
2. Next, glue the black circles onto the plate in patches. Let your child see an example first, but then let them make their cow how they want. It may not look exactly how you would do it, but this allows them an opportunity for creativity.
3. Then, add the cow’s googly eyes, black ears, and pink oval nose. On the nose, you or your child can use a black marker to draw a nose and mouth.
Below is an image showing all the steps:
How to Make an Easy Horse Craft
To make the horse, you’ll need brown, black, and tan construction paper. You could also make your horse different colors if you’d like. Either way, a horse is a great farm craft that lots of little kids love to make.
1. First, like the pig, you’ll want to cut off the raised sides of the paper plate, so the pieces of paper will be easier to put on. I did this for my grandson because cutting through a paper plate is harder than cutting through paper. If your child is proficient with scissors, they can assist you with this step.
2. Next, cut out brown squares from your construction paper. It’s easiest to cut out long strips of paper, and then cut those strips into squares. Again, have your child help you cut out the squares to get some practice with their scissors (whether you actually use those squares or not).
3. Then, have your child glue on all the squares. You want to cover the paper plate with squares so that no more white is showing. And the squares will overlap and hang over the edge of the plate most likely.
4. Lastly, add the horse’s googly eyes, nose, ears, and mane. For the mane, I cut out a curved triangle shape from the black construction paper, and my grandson cut little snips into the edges to look more like hair. Then, we drew on the nose and mouth with a black marker.
Below is an image showing all the steps:
How to Make an Easy Duck Craft
The last part of our fun craft of farm animals is a duck! A duck is an adorable farm animal that’s really easy to make for craft time. We used yellow and orange construction paper on the paper plate to make this little guy.
1. First, cut the raised edges of the paper plate off like the pig and the horse. This makes it less frustrating for little kids to fill the entire plate with paper shapes without them sliding around.
2. Next, cut out long strips of yellow construction paper. Then, cut those strips into rectangles with your child. For rectangles, make sure they’re noticeably longer than the squares you cut out, so little kids can clearly see a difference.
3. Then, your child will glue the yellow rectangles to cover the paper plate. Again, the rectangles will overlap and hang over the edges.
4. Lastly, add the googly eyes and the duck’s bill. To make the duck bill, I folded the orange construction paper in half, and cut out a half-circle shape along the fold. This way when you glue one side down, the bill still opens.
Below is an image showing all the steps:
Optional Last Step to Make Farm Animal Puppets
As a last step, we added a wooden paint stick to the back of the farm animals. Then, your kids can use them as masks or hold them for farm songs like Old Macdonald Had a Farm.
This just makes them easier to hold, but this step is optional.
You might also enjoy these easy crafts:
Easy Halloween Paper Plate Crafts for Preschoolers
15 Cinco de Mayo Crafts for Preschoolers
Have Fun With These Farm Animal Craft Ideas!
We love an easy craft for little kids, but don’t get too caught up with how the final product looks. Our top tip is to allow your child to cut the shapes and glue on the pieces of paper the way they want to even if it doesn’t look perfect. They’re getting all the benefits of the crafts this way!
More Farm Fun
If you’re looking for another fun activity to go with the farm theme, or you’re trying to make whole lesson plans, add in this perfect activity! Create your own farm sensory bin for even more farm fun with sensory play! We love to pair our fun farm crafts with this sensory bin for a whole farm themed unit.
About Michele
Michele is a mom of three and grandma of two with over 28 years of experience in early childhood education. Currently finishing her PhD in Early Childhood Education, Michele has served as a teacher, professor, director, and principal, and is passionate about teaching parents the importance of learning through play. She has also started and owned her own daycare, as well as served as a consultant to new and existing early childhood centers. Follow along with Michele at Apples Blocks and Crayons.
If you enjoyed this craft, be sure to pin it on Pinterest using the image below to make it easier to find next time!
