This paper plate reindeer craft is an easy Christmas project for young kids, and your main material is just a plain, white paper plate!

If you think about it, Santa seems to get most of the attention during Christmastime, but the truth is that he has a lot of helpers who work hard to make Santa’s job easier!

For instance, the elves are toiling all day in Santa’s toy factory, and the reindeer trudge through harsh weather conditions to help Santa deliver all the toys and gifts. That’s why we think we need to celebrate these heroes as well!

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Fun Books about Reindeer for Kids

How the Reindeer Got Their Antlers by Geraldine McCaughrean
Reindeer on Strike by Holly Lansley
How to Catch a Reindeer by Alice Walstead
The Stumbling Reindeer by Sue Elias
That’s Not My Reindeer by Fiona Watt
Never Let A Unicorn Meet A Reindeer! by Diane Alber
The Reindeer Wish by Lori Evert

Now that we’re done with our reading, it’s time for a craft! Here’s a fun paper plate reindeer craft for kids to try this holiday season – and all you need for it is a paper plate!

Playful Paper Plate Reindeer Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Paper plate
Acrylic paint in different colors
Paintbrush
Black Sharpie or marker
A pair of scissors
Pencil
Craft glue

How to make the Paper Plate Reindeer Craft:

1. Download and print the Paper Plate Reindeer Craft template. The template includes all the parts of the reindeer, including the head, ears, antlers, eyes, nose, body, legs and tail. You’ll find all the parts labelled in the template so there’s no confusion.

2. Choose a plain white paper plate for your craft. If all you have is a patterned plate, use white acrylic paint to cover it all over. You may need more than one coat to ensure you have a fully white base. Let the paint dry completely.

3. Now comes the fun part! Usually, we trace the parts of the template on to craft paper, but for your paper plate reindeer craft, we’re going to trace directly on the paper plate! Use a pencil to trace all the parts on the back of your paper plate. Do it as shown below so you can fit all the parts on one plate.

4. Cut out all the parts of your reindeer craft. You’ll notice that some of the parts have the grooves from the paper plate’s edge – that’s okay.

5. There’s no reason for a reindeer to be white – unless he got caught in a snowstorm! That’s why we’re going to bring out the brown acrylic paint and cover the head and body with it.

6. Use the same brown shade to paint the tail and the leg cutouts. Apply a darker shade of brown acrylic paint on the antlers.

7. Paint the reindeer’s ears pink, and the nose red. You can use a black Sharpie or black paint to draw pupils inside the eye cutouts.

8. Time to start assembling our paper plate reindeer craft! Glue the inner ear cutouts to the ear-shaped parts of the reindeer’s head.

9. Stick the eyes on the reindeer’s head, under the ears. Attach the nose below the eyes, so that it covers the pointy end of the reindeer head, as shown below.

10. Attach the antlers to the top of the head and one half of your paper plate reindeer craft is done!

11. Moving on to the bottom half – stick the legs to the bottom of the body cutout, and attch the tail to the side.

12. The final step: putting it all together! Apply some glue to the pointy end of the reindeer’s body, and stick the head on top.

That’s it – your paper plate reindeer craft is complete!

Now, wasn’t that easier than it looked? This paper plate reindeer craft is a fun example of how to make the most of anything, like fitting all the parts of a reindeer onto a single paper plate! It’s also a fun way to show that you don’t need multiple craft supplies to make a cute project; with just one paper plate and other basic supplies, you can make a cute festive project from scratch. And it looks amazing too!

Need more reindeer crafts for kids? We got you!