paper plate owl craft with pink woodsy background — I love how this little clown fish turned out, your child's fish will be unique, too.

This seriously adorable paper plate owl craft is so easy you can have your preschooler create their very own. I love this craft for a cute any time of year craft, I love it for October, but also for talking about nocturnal animals which we talk about in January and February.

My daughter's room is decorated in owls, so this was her FAVORITE craft we have done in awhile.

You'll love this craft because it's easy to set up, low-cost, and you can use it to learn multiple learning objectives. It's a fun and interactive activity that can be used to break up the classroom routine and engage students in a different way.

Use this adorable owl craft to promote creativity and self-expression, fine motor skills development, and following directions.

If you’re juggling classroom chaos, my Halloween Paper Plate Bundle will help. It’s 15 no-fuss projects your students will actually enjoy.

You can easily add this into a unit study of owls, with lots of books available, as well as videos and you can even add some research projects.

Let's get started.

Paper plate crafts are one of my favorites because they are easy to find and inexpensive — the best plates for crafts are the extra cheap, flimsy ones. They are also versatile and forgiving. You can make a mistake and simply start over, or you can make an entire family of owls at home without breaking the bank.

Jump to Supplies Steps More crafts

Supplies for the Paper Plate Owl Craft

Paper Plate Shop
Orange, Black, and white construction paper Shop
Googly eyes (instead of black paper) Shop
Glue Shop
Glue (stick or white glue) and Glue Gun Shop
Scissors Shop

How to Make the Paper Plate Owl Craft

Step 1: Fold the paper plate

Fold two sides of a paper plate. You want then two sides to overlap across the center, and the fold should be diagonal across your plate.

Step 2: Fold and glue the top

Fold the top of the folded paper plate, then glue that down.

Step 3: Cut the orange strips

Cut the orange paper in one inch strips. I kept the length of the strips to six inches to make it easier to cut when they’re all folded up.

Step 4: Fold the strips

Fold every half inch until the whole orange strip is folded. Fold it like an accordion.

Step 5: Cut the feathers

Draw a small curve to the top, and cut, these will serve as the feathers. You’re going to need a LOT, so you might want to cut these ahead of time!

Step 6: Glue on the feathers

Use a glue gun or school glue to paste your feathers to the bottom edge of your owl’s body. When you complete a row, start a new row, making sure the feathers overlap the row below. You will use these feathers for the shiny part of the paper plate (it’s shiny so you can see it on mine, but you can use whatever plate you want) as well as the head.

Step 7: Add the wings and eyes

Once you have completed the bottom part of the owl, you can use larger “feathers” on the wings. Fold these orange strips every inch instead of half inch, and cut them out, then paste along the folded over part of your owl. The face portion should have the smaller feathers, like the bottom.

Cut small circles from the black paper, and slightly larger from the white paper for eyes, or you can just use googly eyes!