Paper Plate - Page 5 of 6

Cut Me a Slice

This is a fun way to help you child prepare his favorite pizza.

On the paper plate, draw a horizontal line and a vertical line, in such a way that you divide it into 4 equal parts (just like you would slice a pizza pie). Use green, red, yellow and brown construction papers to draw different shapes such as rectangles (for pepper), curved lines( for cheese), circles (for pepperoni), etc.

Ask the child to first cut the plate, following the lines you drew on it. Instruct the child to color each quarter in red (using a crayon, a marker, or a colored pencil). Then, provide the child with the different shapes you drew on the construction papers and ask him to cut these shapes following the lines. Let the child glue the different shapes on the paper plate quarters based on what he would like to have on his pizza.

Sensory Salad

You will need to use green construction paper (light and/or dark) and assorted small different textured objects (i.e. pom-poms, buttons, small blocks, etc.). You may also want to use different size and color straws.

First, explain to the child that you are going to make a salad. Let the child tear up the pieces of paper using both hands, to make lettuce leaves, and place the pieces in the bowl.

Then, have the child cut the straws into different size pieces and add them to the bowl. Ask the child to add the pom-poms, buttons, blocks, and think of creative things they can be (e.g. red pom-poms for cherry tomatoes, blocks as croutons). Have the child “toss” the salad by hand, allowing him to feel the different textures.

Use the tongs to “serve” the salad. To focus on social skills, ask the child to serve you/other peers/ themselves/co-treating therapists and say things like “more please!”, “no more, thank you”, etc.

Yarn Painting

Draw a geometric shape or a picture on the paper and fold it in half (i.e. square, pumpkin, a person, butterfly, etc.). Let the child cut out the picture and open the paper.

Cut a piece of yarn (about 6-inch long). Put paint into the container and ask the child to dip one end of the yarn in the paint while holding on to the other end. Instruct the child to place the painted end of the yarn on one side of the paper, at the top. Fold the paper again and tell the child to pull the yarn out, from the bottom.

Open the folded paper, place the painted yarn at the top again, fold the paper, and pull the yarn out. Repeat these steps until the picture is painted.

You can use different colors and cut a piece of yarn for each color the child is using.

Paper Turkey

On a brown construction paper, trace the child’s hand or have the child trace his own hand using the pen/markers/crayons.

Make sure the thumb is extended and the fingers are spread apart while tracing the hand.

Let the child cut the traced hand. This will be the turkey’s body.

Glue the traced hand in the middle of the paper plate.

Use one bean as the turkey’s eye and glue it on the traced thumb. On the rest of the fingers, let the child glue feathers.

Take a piece of orange or red tissue paper and let the child crumble it. Glue the crumbled piece as the turkey’s wattle.

Using the markers or the crayon, let the child draw the turkey’s legs.

Ping Pong Plates

This activity is divided into 2 parts: creating the rackets and playing ping pong with the rackets and the balloon.

First, glue the wooden stick to the paper plate with the wooden stick sticking out of the plate. The wooden stick is going to be where you hold the racket so the length of the stick that comes out of the paper plate should be at least 4 inches.

Once the sticks are glued, use the crayons to color or write on the paper plates.

Inflate the balloon.

Hold the paper plate racket and bounce the ball around.

If done in a group setting, you can instruct the kids to use the paper plate to bounce the balloon from one to another while playing a ping-pong game.