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✂️ Paper plate Christmas wreath craft for kids
Age: 3+ · Time: 40 min
A paper plate wreath is a classic Christmas craft for good reason: it uses things you already have at home, it is easy for small hands, and the result looks genuinely festive hanging on a bedroom door.
Scrunching tissue paper is also brilliant for fine motor skills, so it is a favourite at nurseries and reception classes.
Tips
- Pour the glue into a jar lid so it is easy to reach and does not get everywhere.
- Younger children can use a glue stick on the plate and just press the tissue on.
- Older children can draw and cut out holly leaves to add between the tissue balls.
Variations
- Handprint wreath: draw round your child's hands on green paper, cut them out and glue them round the ring with fingers pointing outwards.
- Snowy wreath: cotton wool balls with a few silver stars.
- Photo wreath: glue a family photo in the centre of a second plate and hang it behind the wreath.
For little helpers
Give each child their own plate and a small bowl of tissue squares, and let them choose the colours. A rainbow wreath is just as Christmassy.
You need
- 1 paper plate (plain, not plastic-coated)
- green tissue paper, or green paper cut into strips
- small pieces of red tissue paper or red pompoms for berries
- PVA glue and a glue spreader or old paintbrush
- child-safe scissors
- a length of ribbon
- a hole punch or a pencil (for an adult)
- optional extras like buttons, sequins, cut-out stars or a small bow
Steps
- A grown-up cuts out the centre of the paper plate, leaving a ring about 5 cm wide. Folding the plate in half makes it easier to start the cut.
- Tear or cut the green tissue paper into squares about 5 x 5 cm.
- Spread a section of the ring with PVA glue.
- Scrunch each tissue square into a loose ball and press it onto the glue. Keep going round the ring until it is completely covered and bushy.
- Add little balls of red tissue paper, pompoms or buttons as berries.
- Glue a bow or some cut-out stars at the bottom of the wreath.
- Leave to dry flat for at least an hour.
- A grown-up makes a hole at the top. Thread the ribbon through and tie a loop for hanging.
Questions
What can I use instead of tissue paper?
Green handprints cut from paper, torn magazine pages painted green, cotton wool balls for a snowy wreath, or real leaves and pine cones for older children.
How do I stop it from going soggy?
Use a thin layer of glue, working on one section at a time, and dry it flat rather than hanging it straight away.