Taco Tuesday will now mean something different, with our super-colorful Taco Paper  Craft for kids! Packed with beans, veggies and lots and lots of cheese!!

We are thoroughly enjoying making our pretend play food collages over here! After pie, sushi, sandwiches and spaghetti, our pretend restaurant is serving today’s special – tacos!

Just hearing about tacos probably brings up images of colorful sombreros and guacamole, right? The reason I love tacos is that they’re so easy to make – take a tortilla and stuff it with whatever you like! It’s also a great way to get kids to eat veggies buried beneath cheese!

However, there’s nothing sneaky about today’s paper taco craft for kids, made with different varieties of craft paper. Trust me, it’s a dish worthy to be on any cooking show!

Pretend Play Food – Taco Paper Craft for Kids

Materials Required:

• Thick textured yellow paper
• Craft paper in blue, red and green
• Green tissue paper
• Yellow and white crepe paper
• Bean-shaped beads
• Colored Markers
• Scissors
• Glue

Instructions to make Mexican Taco Paper Craft:

1. Let’s start slicing some veggies, shall we? Cut out turnip slices from blue paper and draw circles to represent the grooves.

2. Add some pickles by cutting circles out of green paper. Add some definition to the slices with green markers and chalk.

3. Time for some tomato slices from red paper! As with the pickles, add some texture using markers.

4. What’s a taco without cheese on top? Our taco craft has not one, but two cheeses! You can make them out of white and yellow or yellow and orange crepe paper. Cut out thin shreds with scissors to make it look like grated cheese.

5. And because we also want to focus on health, tear out some green tissue paper to make lettuce.

6. Okay, so our fillings are all ready! Now we need something to fill – a taco shell! Thick, textured craft paper works well as a taco shell and you can use beads as beans. Get everything laid out so that you can start assembling your taco.

7. Bend the taco slightly through the middle, so it can hold the fillings. Start with the lettuce and glue on the fillings as you go. Add some beans on the lettuce to add weight to the taco. Top with any remaining lettuce and cheese.

8. Fold the taco into it’s proper shape and insert the remaining vegetable slices.

9. Mmmm, I can almost smell the melting cheese! Make as many tacos as you like and any sides of your choice – salsa, a lemon slice or more lettuce. Plate it all on a tray and you’re ready for the judges of Master Chef!

This paper taco craft is a great way to introduce kids to various kinds of paper, and they can touch and feel how each one is different. Talk to them about why a certain kind of paper is suited for a certain ingredient and how it affects the final look of their project. Then keep the conversation going by asking them what food craft they’d like to make next!