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Craft Tutorials | Holiday Crafts | Christmas Crafts | Paper Plate Elf Craft

Paper Plate Elf Craft

Author by Amanda Davis on December 8, 2014 Updated on May 29, 2020

5 from 1 vote
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Christmas elves are those adorable little helpers that Santa employs to make toys and care for his reindeer. These days the elf has also taken on a new role: The Elf on a Shelf. Whether or not you participate in this fairly new tradition or you use a Kindness Elf, your kids will love making this paper plate elf just in time for Christmas!

Paper Plate Elf by Amanda Formaro, Crafts by Amanda

 

Paper Plate Elf

This cute elf craft is fun to make and comes complete with a pattern for all the pieces. If you are working with smaller children and are concerned about the size of the miniature jingle bells, use gold pom poms instead. When you’re done, print out this free advent calendar for more Christmas fun, and check out all these amazing advent calendar ideas!

Paper Plate Elf by Amanda Formaro, Crafts by Amanda

Note: some links below are affiliate links. That means if you happen to buy something, a small percentage of that sale goes back into this site, which enables me to continue to bring you free tutorials such as this one. So, thanks!

As always, a full printable supply list and instructions are at the end of this post.
For this project you will need the following supplies:

  • Paper plate
  • Paint: peach and pink
  • Construction paper: white, orange and green
  • Medium sparkly red pom pom
  • 8 miniature jingle bells
  • 2 googly eyes
  • Patterns
  • Tools: Paintbrush, scissors, black marker, glue stick, white craft glue, round sponge applicator

Paper Plate Elf by Amanda Formaro, Crafts by Amanda

  1. Download and print the pattern here.
  2. Paint the paper plate with peach paint.
  3. Paint half a sheet of white construction paper with peach paint.
  4. Using the pattern, cut two ears from the paper you painted peach (be sure to cut one, then turn the pattern over and cut the second one so that both ears around pointing the same direction).
  5. Cut the other pieces of the pattern from construction paper. The collar and hat are green and the hat band is white. To cut the hair from orange paper, simply cut paper into triangles.
  6. Assemble the elf by using a glue stick to attach the ears to the back of the plate, then attach the hair. Attach the hat and band. Finally add the collar to the bottom.
  7. Use white craft glue to attach a miniature jingle bell to each point on the collar and the red pom pom to the tip of the hat.
  8. Use a round sponge applicator and pink paint to add cheeks. Draw on a smile and nose with black marker and glue on googly eyes.

Christmas crafts for the kids by Amanda Formaro, Crafts by Amanda

More Christmas crafts for kids

  • Cardboard Tube Gnomes
  • Faux Stained Glass Paper Snowflakes
  • Paper Plate Santa, Snowman & Rudolph
  • Paper Snowman Luminaries
  • All my Christmas crafts

Hope you enjoyed this project, have fun!

Print Project
5 from 1 vote

Paper Plate Elf

Supplies

  • Paper plate
  • Paint: peach and pink
  • Construction paper: white orange and green
  • Medium sparkly red pom pom
  • 8 miniature jingle bells
  • 2 googly eyes
  • Patterns
  • Tools: Paintbrush scissors, black marker, glue stick, white craft glue, round sponge applicator

Instructions

  • Paint the paper plate with peach paint.
  • Paint half a sheet of white construction paper with peach paint.
  • Using the pattern, cut two ears from the paper you painted peach (be sure to cut one, then turn the pattern over and cut the second one so that both ears around pointing the same direction).
  • Cut the other pieces of the pattern from construction paper. The collar and hat are green and the hat band is white. To cut the hair from orange paper, simply cut paper into triangles.
  • Assemble the elf by using a glue stick to attach the ears to the back of the plate, then attach the hair. Attach the hat and band. Finally add the collar to the bottom.
  • Use white craft glue to attach a miniature jingle bell to each point on the collar and the red pom pom to the tip of the hat.
  • Use a round sponge applicator and pink paint to add cheeks. Draw on a smile and nose with black marker and glue on googly eyes.
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Amanda Davis
Amanda Davis is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She loves to bake, cook, make kid's crafts and create decorative items for her home. She is a crafting expert and guru in the kitchen and has appeared online and in print publications many times over the years.
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Filed Under: Christmas Crafts, Paper Plate Crafts for Kids Tagged With: christmas, construction paper, elf, elves, holidays, kid's crafts, paper plate

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Comments

  1. Moxie says

    December 11, 2014 at 4:29 pm

    What a great idea! That elf is so cute!

    Reply
  2. jen @ Tatertots & Jello says

    December 10, 2014 at 11:29 am

    So cute Amanda! Pinned :)

    xoxo

    Reply
    • Amanda Formaro says

      December 13, 2014 at 7:31 am

      Thank you Jen!

      Reply
  3. [email protected] says

    December 9, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    What a darling elf! pinned!

    Reply
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