Love learning about aliens, space and unidentified flying objects? Then you’ll love our quirky and cute paper plate UFO craft – for kids of all ages!

Have you ever seen a kettle fly through the sky? What about a frying pan? Or a saucer? Now, that’s a different story!

In the past, any disc-shaped flying object was referred to as a flying saucer, and it was quite a popular term. It was only in 1952 that the United States Air Force replaced the term with the more generic ‘Unidentified Flying Object’ or UFO. After all, aliens could be flying in objects of any shape!

With World UFO Day coming up on 2nd July, it’s a great time to have fun conversations with kids about aliens and outer space. It’s also an excellent time for some alien-themed or UFO-themed crafts, and we’ve got a new one for you today!

Contents show

Quirky Paper Plate UFO Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Colored craft papers
Paper plate
Googly eyes
Acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Pencil
A pair of scissors
Craft glue
Sharpies

How to make the Paper Plate UFO Craft for Kids:

1. Let’s begin with the base of our craft – the paper plate! Choose a clean, white paper plate, and make sure it’s a kind of material you can paint on.

2. Cut the paper plate in half so you get a semicircle.

3. Select an acrylic paint of your choice and cover the paper plate half with it. You can apply multiple coats if you think it’s necessary. Put aside the paper plate to dry completely.

4. Now that the paper plate is resting, let’s go ahead and download the paper plate UFO craft template. This template contains parts of the UFO, like glass, legs and circles as well as of the alien, including face and mouth.

5. Trace the parts of the template on craft paper and cut them out. You can choose any color you like – UFOs’ don’t have a natural color! Since our paper plate base is a bright red, we’ve chosen contrasting colors for other parts of the UFO. The alien is green, which seems appropriate!

6. Let’s get to work on our little alien first. Use a Sharpie in the same color as the alien’s head and draw an outline inside it.

7. Stick googly eyes on the little circles on top of the alien’s head. If your alien is one-eyed, you’ll only need one googly eye!

8. Our alien is missing something – a mouth! Take the mouth cutout and stick on some small white squares for teeth. If you want your alien to have a wide-toothed grin, be sure to leave lots of space between the individual teeth!

9. Stick the mouth on the alien’s face. Add some nostrils with the Sharpie used in Step 6. Our paper plate UFO craft is coming along!

10. Stick the alien on the glass cover, placing it right in the middle.

11. Check on your painted paper plate; if it’s dry, it’s time to move on to the next step! Stick the little window circles along the flat edge of the paper plate.

12. Your paper plate UFO craft needs a way to stand when it lands on Earth! Attach the legs to the curved edge of the paper plate, giving it a wide ‘stance’.

13. To make the glass appear shiny, stick the small curved piece of white paper near the curved edge. Stick the completed glass with the alien on the flat edge of the paper plate, positioning it in the center.

14. Use Sharpies to draw outlines on other parts of the UFO as you like, and you’re done!

Our paper plate UFO craft template includes patterns for both a two-eyed alien and a one-eyed alien, so go ahead and make both! Mix and match the colors as you like, or use different shaped googly eyes for a whackier appearance. The possibilities are just endless!

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