When my two oldest kids were younger, we made a lot of crafts. Paper plates were super cheap at the dollar store, so I always had a bunch on hand. I especially liked the non-coated paper plates, which made painting and drawing easier. You can find uncoated paper plates at many stores, but, in my neck of the woods, the dollar store is still cheapest.
Back in January of 2016 when the cold winter weather was upon us, my oldest daughter and son were hard at work making crafts to pass the time away stuck indoors. One of our winter-themed crafts was a sparkly snowy owl made from plain paper plates. The sparkle brightened up the dull, gray winter days. My son was also obsessed with owls at that time, so he loved helping his mom make an owl of his own.
Fun fact: Did you that owl eyes are not true eyeballs like human eyes? The tube-shaped eyes of an owl are completely immobile, which gives owls binocular vision to fully focus their vision on prey and boost depth perception. Instead of moving their eyes like people and many other animals, owls can rotate their necks a full 270 degrees!
Materials
Instructions
- Cut a notch from the top of one of the paper plates. Discard the notch.
- Cut a second paper plate in half.
- Mix the glitter with the glue.
- Cover the fronts of the paper plates with the glitter glue.
- Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.
- Glue the notched plate to the top of the whole plate with the notch side up.
- Glue the plate halves to the sides of the whole plate with the flat sides up and out.
- Cut a square and two legs from the orange paper.
- Fold the orange square in half.
- Glue two large wiggle eyes to the top center of the notched plate.
- Glue the folded square under the eyes with the open side pointing down.
- Glue the two orange legs to the bottom of the whole plate.
- Display the paper plate snowy owl.
For more fun owl crafts, try my O Is for Owl Handprint Craft and Autumn Halloween Owl Footprint Craft.
Snowy Owl Paper Plate Craft
Materials
- 3 white paper plates
- orange paper
- 2 wiggle eyes
- white or silver glitter
- glue
- scissors
Instructions
- Cut a notch from the top of one of the paper plates. Discard the notch.
- Cut a second paper plate in half.
- Mix the glitter with the glue.
- Cover the fronts of the paper plates with the glitter glue.
- Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.
- Glue the notched plate to the top of the whole plate with the notch side up.
- Glue the plate halves to the sides of the whole plate with the flat sides up and out.
- Cut a square and two legs from the orange paper.
- Fold the orange square in half.
- Glue two large wiggle eyes to the top center of the notched plate.
- Glue the folded square under the eyes with the open side pointing down.
- Glue the two orange legs to the bottom of the whole plate.
- Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.
- Display the paper plate snowy owl.
This post was originally published on January 26, 2016 and updated March 1, 2023.
Image Credits
Snowy Owl Paper Plate Craft © 2015 Heather Johnson
Three White Paper Plates © 2015 Heather Johnson
Cutting the Paper Plates for the Snowy Owl Craft © 2015 Heather Johnson
Making Silver Glitter Glue © 2015 Heather Johnson
Paper Plates Covered with Glitter Glue © 2015 Heather Johnson
Wiggle Eyes, Orange Owl Beak, and Two Orange Owl Legs © 2015 Heather Johnson
Gluing Together the Glittered Paper Plates © 2015 Heather Johnson
Gluing the Owl Pieces on the Paper Plates © 2015 Heather Johnson
Snowy Owl Paper Plate Craft © 2015 Heather Johnson
