Sweet Sunshine Craft: Easy Paper Plate Sun Craft

Sun Craft for Kids

Summertime equals sunshine! This cute sun craft is a perfect way to celebrate the season. Toddlers and preschoolers can easily make this craft at home or in the classroom.

It’s the perfect summer or weather themed craft idea and you can pick up all the necessary items from the dollar store! It goes perfectly with the song “You are my Sunshine” too!

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Learning Opportunities

Fine motor skills activity

This activity can be great for helping toddlers work on their fine motor skills. Triangle shaped crayons are great for young kids to use to practice their grip!

If they’re old enough they can cut the streamers into strips themselves to practice cutting skills and those fine motor skills that it takes to properly use scissors.

Lastly, toddlers and preschoolers can practice cutting and pasting while making this craft. My toddler needed a bit of help getting the ends of the streamers in the right place and gluing the eyes on.

Memorization

My daughter absolutely loves learning new songs! Get that mind churning and that memory working by having them learn “You are my sunshine”.

Word Learning

Now that you’ve made a sun, what is it? You can talk about things like:

• How the sun helps plants grow
• How the sun makes things warm
• How the sun travels around the Earth

I’m in no way suggesting you sit down and try to teach these concepts like a lesson. They’re simply things you could discuss while you play with your creation. While your child won’t fully understand don’t underestimate what they’re capable of or be afraid to introduce concepts.

Supplies for this Paper Plate Sunshine Craft

• Paper Plate (the cheap white kind)
• Yellow Crayon (triangle crayons are great for toddlers)
• Black marker or sharpie
• Large googly eyes
• Yellow Streamers
• Glue Stick or white glue
• Scissors

I was able to grab all of these items from the dollar store but you can pick them up on Amazon or at any craft store. You probably already have some of them in your home!

How to make your sun craft

1. Start by drawing or having your child draw a mouth on the paper plate. (Ideally, you’ll draw it on the back of the plate.) Make sure you do this step first as a marker won’t draw over top of crayon.
2. Color the plate yellow with a crayon, marker, or paint.
3. Flip the plate over and glue streamers at intervals. (It’s easier to do the streamers before the eyes since they’ll make the front of the plate uneven)
4. Optional: Glue the words to “You are my Sunshine” on the back (See more info below)
5. Glue the eyes on and allow the glue to dry.

My toddler and I had a great time making this paper plate sun. She’s a bit of a picasso and insisted that one eye went above the mouth and one below it. She needed a bit of help with the gluing and streamer placement as she’s only just over two.

She was proud to show off her craft when she was done.

Bonus: Make it a “You are my Sunshine” Craft

“You are my sunshine” is the perfect song to go along with this sun craft. Print out the lyrics. I’ve made you a printable version (4 to a page) and have them glue them onto the backside of their sun.

Then teach them the words! Would make a fun craft and activity for a preschool project and presentation. The streamers on the sun make this craft fun to dance with.

Let’s see your suns! Use the tried it feature on Pinterest and save this pin for later.

Paper plate preschool craft idea

Thanks for sharing!