These Paper Plate Snails are simply adorable and super easy to make. What a great rainy day craft, or one as you gear up for a season change.
If you need something to keep you and your kids busy, this craft is perfect. There are so many different ways you can customize it too.
You can also adapt it to different ages. A reader messaged me and let me know that her littlest used small pieces of paper instead of beads, which is perfect for the little ones!
Use what items you have on hand, find different colors and options and have fun. This is a perfect, customizable craft for your kiddos! You’ll enjoy it too!!
More Craft Ideas:
- Glow in the Dark Slime
- New Year Slime
- Birthday Cake Slime
- Bluebird Plate Craft
- Spring Bird Sensory Bin
- St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Bin
Aren’t the snails above adorable? You can make these at home with your children and have a blast doing it. This craft uses some materials that you may have laying around and takes just a few steps and additional materials.
For complete directions scroll to the bottom of the post where the tutorial card is! You can also print the tutorial there!
With the summer here, it is great to have some indoor projects to do as it gets warmer and the summer storms come in the forecast. Crafts are great to do as a family and these snails are perfect.
Materials Needed to make Paper Plate Snails
- Small paper plates
- Kids plastic beads
- Colored cardstock
- Pipe cleaners
- Googly eyes
- Scissors
- Crayons
- Hot glue gun
How to Make Paper Plate Snails
First, draw a snail head onto your cardstock. This doesn’t have to be perfect, but I’ve posted a picture below to show the ideal shape.
Next cut a pipe cleaner and flue to the top of the snails head before gluing on the google eyes. You’ll want to use a hot glue gun for this part or the eyes won’t stay on there easily :).
Draw your smiley face – have fun with this!
Now you’ll want to draw a swirl onto your paper plate with either a hot glue gun or white glue. If using a hot glue gun, I’d do a small portion at a time because the glue does dry fast.
Immediately stick your beads onto the glue and apply more glue as needed!
Glue the snail head onto one side of the plate and your snail is complete.
Do I Have to Use Beads?
If you don’t have beads on hand, no worries at all. Are your kiddos too small for beads? No worries. You can use a variety of items in place of beads – colored pasta, ripped pieces of paper, buttons, etc. Have fun with this craft and adjust for your family’s needs!
Will Elmer’s Glue Work?
Yes, it will work, just use a small dot and let it dry completely before moving the plate. If you use other items in place of beads, regular white glue will work just fine. You may need to use the hot glue gun if you’re using heavy or large beads, though!
What are some Fun Learning Activities?
My son loves to learn, so when we made ours we counted out the beads as he was gluing them! You can incorporate math into this craft easily by counting beads, doing addition and subtraction, etc.
Can I use Any Color?
Of course you can! This is your craft, have fun with it!! Your snail will be as perfect as it can be! Share pictures on Instagram too, I’d love to see them! Be sure to tag @thisnthatwitholivia 🙂
Paper Plate Snail Craft
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Materials
- Small paper plates
- Kids plastic beads
- Colored cardstock
- Pipe cleaners
- Googly eyes
- Crayons
Tools
- Scissors
- Hot Glue Gun
Instructions
- Draw a snail head onto your colored cardstock like pictured (like a “c” shape cut in half).
- Cut a 3″ pipe off a pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and glue the center to the top of the snails head.
- Glue one googly eye onto each pipe cleaner top.
- Use your crayon to draw a smiley face slightly below the eyes.
- Now carefully use your hot glue to draw a swirl onto your paper plate starting in the center and only a small section at a time.
- Immediately stick your beads onto the hot glue, apply more glue continuing the swirl, stick on more beads, and repeat until your bead swirl is complete.
- Now glue your snail head onto one side of the plate and your snail is complete.
Recommended Products
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- CCR Scissors 8 Inch Soft Comfort-Grip Handles Sharp Titanium Blades, 4-Pack
- Darice 200-Piece Variety Pack of Round Eyes, Black and White
- Bememo 200 Pieces Pipe Cleaners Chenille Stems 6 mm x 12 Inch for Diy Art Craft, Assorted Colors
- DCWV Cardstock Stack, Textured Jewel Colored, 58 Sheets, 12 x 12 inches
- Pony Beads Multi Color 9mm 1000 Pcs in Bag
- Nicole Home Collection 100 Count Everyday Dinnerware Paper Plate, 6-Inch, White
These are really cute. What a fun way to use beads.
I think so too!! 😀 It is such a cute craft.
I think it would be dangerous for my 5 yr old to stick the beads onto hot glue. Is there another type of glue that the beads will adhere to?
You could use glue dots (https://amzn.to/2Hjcm3U) or something called duco cement (https://amzn.to/2GT3jTV) or even craft glue (https://amzn.to/2qrdjgk).
Looks so cute. I love this idea.
I had my 20 mo. And 4 year old string the beads on to three pipe cleaners that were wound up together and then I hot glued them to the plate. I had to do a lot of the beads for the little one in order to fill it up but he was able to do it and it kept them busy for awhile! Nice craft!!
AH! I love how EASY this project is – but with such a great end result. My youngest is 3 and LOVES tiny tiny items (robots, beads, dice), so this has his name all over it! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for your fun snail time craft activity. My 3 year old and I had so much fun making our own.
You are very welcome. So glad you all had fun!