Paper Plate Lion Craft fun for Kids

To make the yarn lion, place the plate so that it faces the table. Now it is upside down.

Cut several pieces of yellow yarn about 4 inches to fit the rim of the plate. You will need at least 25 pieces of yarn. 

With glue, draw an L shape. Place the yarn at the top of the L, and bring it down. When you get to the corner, bend the yarn to make a circle, put the end of the yarn in the glue at the point of the L.

A straw is helpful to push the yarn into the glue.

Continue gluing the yarn around the rim.

If making curly yarn is too difficult, cut 2-inch pieces of yarn and glue on the rim.

For the ears, cut two pieces of brown yarn 36 inches long. Roll the yarn in a circle. It may look like a lot of yarn, but once you roll it up, it isn’t that big. Glue the ears on the plate.

Use 12 inches of brown for the nose. Make a circle and glue it to the plate.

Use two pieces of green yarn for the eyes. Cut each piece 12 inches long.  Roll the yarn into an oval shape. Glue eyes to the plate.

In real life, lions have large orangery brown eyes. 

For the mouth, cut one piece of brown yarn.

Make a rounded v shape with glue. The point of the v is at the nose.

Put the yarn on one end of the glue when you get to the nose, pinch the center together, then go to the other end of the glue. Trim off any excess yarn.

Color your paper plate brown. Using the side of a broken crayon makes it easier and quicker.

After you color your plate, draw two triangles for the eyes. Measure 1/2 inch from the rim and make a line 2 inches long line. On each side of the line, draw an angled line 1 1/2 inches to the center to make the triangle.

Make another triangle the same size next to this one for the other eye.

Fold the plate on the bottom lines of the triangles. Cut a small slit in each triangle with your scissors. Unfold the plate and use the slit to cut out the triangles. 

Make another triangle that is the same size as the eyes for the nose in the center of the plate. Fold the plate and cut out the triangle.

To make the mouth, start at the bottom of the nose triangle, draw a straight line about 1 inch long. Then draw a curved line on each side of the rim.

To make the mane, cut 1 by 2-inch strips from yellow and orange construction paper. An easy way to do this is to stack your yellow and orange paper. Cut two 1 by 12-inch strips. Then cut the strips into 2-inch pieces. You should have twenty-four pieces, which are enough for your lion. 

Glue the strips to the rim of the plate. Be sure to press each strip into the glue so that it sticks.

Cut sixteen pieces of streamer, approximately 5 1/2 inches.

Glue one end of a piece of streamer on the rim of the paper plate.

Fold the piece behind and glue the other end of the rim. Glue another piece on the plate. 

Continue gluing and folding until the rim of the plate is covered. 

From brown construction paper cut a circle 6 1/4 inches. Cut smaller circles for ears. Glue to the center of the plate.

Make a face for the lion. First, find a scrap of yellow construction paper and draw two circles for the eyes, and cut them out. With a black marker, add pupils to the eyes. Place the circles on a piece of black paper.

Draw around the circle and make a point on the left and right side, so that it looks like cat eyes. Glue the eyes on the brown paper.

Now grab another scrap of black construction paper and cut out a triangle for the nose.

With a marker, draw a mouth. From the nose draw a curved the line to right and a curved line to the left.