A plain white paper plate can become a flower-crowned unicorn with glittery ears, dramatic eyelashes, and absolutely no respect for the fact that it started life beside a stack of napkins.
This is the kind of kids’ craft that looks wildly more complicated than it is. The horn, ears, cheeks, flowers, and face are all simple pieces. Put them together and suddenly the plate has a full personality.
What do you need to make a paper plate unicorn?
- Two white paper plates
- Gold glitter paper
- Pink glitter paper
- Black permanent marker
- Glue
- Scissors
- Small faux flowers
The second plate is for the ears, so do not let anybody wander off with it and a slice of cake.
How do you make the unicorn plate?
- Cut the horn. Cut a long triangle from the gold glitter paper. It can be skinny, chunky, slightly crooked, or whatever your particular unicorn demands.
- Make the ears. Cut two pointed ear shapes from the second white paper plate, then cut two smaller matching shapes from the pink glitter paper.
- Add the inner ears. Glue each pink piece inside a white ear.
- Cut the cheeks. Cut two small circles from the pink glitter paper.
- Arrange everything first. Place the ears and horn behind the top edge of the whole plate. Move them around until the face looks balanced, then glue them in place.
- Build the flower crown. Set the faux flowers across the top of the plate before you glue anything. Once you like the mix of colors and sizes, glue them down around the base of the horn.
- Practice the eyes. Draw the curved eyes and eyelashes on a scrap of paper first. The marker is permanent, and this is not the moment for an experimental eyebrow.
- Finish the face. Draw the eyes on the plate, glue on the pink cheeks, and let everything dry completely.
The one part worth doing slowly
The eyes do most of the work. A simple curved line with three little lashes is enough to make the whole plate look sweet instead of mildly alarmed. Practice once, take a breath, and then commit.
Make it your unicorn
Use rainbow flowers, metallic paper, or completely different cheek colors. A tiny bow would be adorable. So would a wildly oversized horn. The basic shapes are forgiving, which is exactly what a kids’ craft should be.
If the unicorn phase has already spread beyond one paper plate, these DIY My Little Pony party ideas can keep the glitter situation going.
A paper plate has no business looking this pleased with itself. And yet.
This project and the original photos were submitted to Totally The Bomb by CourtneyLynne in 2018.
