Paper Plate Tree Frog Craft

Mia likes frogs and I decided that these plastic cups that once held mandarin oranges would make perfect froggy eyes. All we needed was a face, and a paper plate seemed like the obvious choice. This craft was pretty quick to do and Mia was able to make it almost entirely on her own.

{Tree Frog by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper plate
• green paint
• red paint
• foam paintbrush
• newspaper
• glue
• 2 empty plastic fruit cups
• black felt
• black marker
• pink pipe cleaner, felt, or paper (optional)

Directions:

1. After covering work surface with newspaper, paint the back side of a paper plate green. (We used acrylic paint which dries quickly but will stain clothing so take care when using.) Allow paint to dry.
2. For eyes, we re-used two clean, dry plastic cups. Paint the outside (or inside if you prefer) of each cup red.  Allow paint to dry.
3. Cut two circles from black felt (or craft foam or paper) and glue onto the plastic cups. (I did the cutting.)
4. Line the rim of the plastic cups with glue and adhere to the paper plate.
5. Draw a mouth using a black marker.

Other Ideas:

• Instead of making the eyes red you could use white, yellow, or orange paint.  
• Add a tongue made from a pink pipe cleaner, felt, or construction paper.
• If you don't have plastic fruit cups you could try using egg carton cups or yogurt cups to make the eyes.
• Add a craft stick on the back of the frog to make a puppet.