Paper Plate Santa Claus

Here is another Santa craft that Mia and I did last year when she was 2 1/2. She really enjoyed using all the cotton balls!

Materials:

• paper plate
• peach colored crayon (or colored pencil or paint)
• red construction paper
• scissors
• glue
• cotton balls
• 2 googly eyes
• pink pom pom
• red crayon (or marker or colored pencil)

Directions:

1. Using crayon, color a paper plate a peach color (or whatever "flesh" color you want Santa to be.) You could also use colored pencil or paint, however, if you use paint you will have to wait for it to dry.
2. Cut a piece of red construction paper to form Santa's hat. Ours is curved, but you could make a simple triangle if you prefer. Glue the hat onto the top third of the paper plate.
3. Glue on 2 googly eyes and a pink pom pom nose.
4. For Santa's beard, we glued on two rows of cotton balls. (I spread the glue and Mia applied the cotton balls.) We pulled one cotton ball gently to make Santa's mustache and glued that below the nose.
5. In the space between the mustache and beard, use a red crayon (or colored pencil or marker) to draw a mouth. (You may want to do that before gluing on cotton balls if you are concerned about placement.)
6. Add a row of cotton balls to the brim of Santa's hat and glue one more onto the tip. Allow all of the glue to dry and display your paper plate Santa Claus.