Cute for Kids: Folded Paper-Plate Owls

The spookiest season of all is upon us — let haunted Halloween crafting begin!

From bats and cats to witches’ hats, there are countless fun and festive projects brewing on kids’ craft tables at this time of year. Here in my home daycare, we’ve kicked off our Halloween crafting season with these folded paper plate owls. We love an adorable owl craft at Halloween, and the hooligans have made lots over the years. I must admit though, most of them are far from scary. Our owls always end up looking absolutely adorable, and that’s just fine with us.

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Have you ever wondered why owls are associated with Halloween? I did a little research and discovered that some owls set up their territories and begin building their nests in fall. This results in a lot of calling back and forth between the wise, old birds, and it’s why they’re more often heard hooting in fall than at any other time of the year.

There’s also a lot of superstition surrounding owls. They were once considered symbols of magic in some cultures, and in other cultures they were linked to witches. And of course, the screech of an owl is often used to raise the hair on the back of your neck in creepy horror movies.

Thankfully, our paper plate owls won’t have you jumping out of your skin with fear. On the contrary! These owls are super-cute and your kids will likely jump at the chance to make a bunch to display in your home or classroom this Halloween season.

Our owls are super-easy to make too, with just a few basic craft supplies. Let me show you how it’s done.

You'll need:

• small paper plates
• acrylic craft paint
• googly eyes
• orange (or yellow) felt
• stapler
• glue
• paint brushes

Directions:

Begin by making three folds on your paper plate: One fold for the owl’s head and two folds for the wings.

First, fold your wings in, leaving a bit of a gap so they almost meet. We folded our wings at a bit of an angle so the paper plate would be slightly wider at the top than the bottom.

Next, with the wings still folded in, fold the top section of the paper plate over to form your owl’s head.

Press along all of the folded edges to make your creases crisp and clean.

Now your kids can unfold their owls, and paint different colours and patterns on those sections.

When the painted sections are dry, fold your owl back up and staple the head to the wings to hold everything in place.

Now it’s time to decorate your owl’s face. Some of the hooligans chose to paint their owls’ faces.

Others chose to glue on googly eyes.

To finish, scraps of yellow or orange felt were cut into small triangles and glued in place for the owls’ beaks.

Hoot, hoot!

Wouldn’t these owls look terrific hanging in a window or pinned to a cut-out tree branch on a bulletin board in the classroom?

Happy Halloween!