Paper Plate Gnome Craft for Preschoolers

This adorable paper plate gnome craft for preschoolers is a quick holiday craft. Help the little ones practice scissor skills and fine motor work by following the pleats of the paper plate.

Use this adorable gnome craft for kids as a puppet by attaching a large popsicle stick to the back or string them up in a classroom on some twine for a cute holiday banner. The hat can be decorated with markers, stickers, or even more pompoms.

Horizontal image of a paper plate gnome on a black background with a pine needle decoration and text which reads ruffles and rain boots.

Paper Plate Christmas Gnome Craft for Preschoolers

Here at Ruffles and Rain Boots, I love setting up easy crafts that minimize clean up. Today, I’m sharing a paper plate Christmas gnome craft for preschoolers that only uses a few supplies and has nearly no mess.

While making another craft, the little ones wanted to join in so my daughter came up with this idea for a friend’s 3-year-old (almost 4). We grabbed some paper plates, some construction paper, and the kids rooted around finding the perfect pompom accents.

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RELATED READING: Gnome Peek-a-Boo Paper Plate Craft for Kids

Vertical image of an adorable Christmas gnome with red hat and white beard made from a paper plate and staged on a black background.

Supplies to Make an Easy Paper Plate Christmas Gnome

This is one for the “quick and easy kid crafts” pile, friends. You probably have everything you need to set this up:

  • red construction paper
  • paper plate
  • a white pompom for the hat and a natural pompom for the gnome nose
  • scissors and glue
  • optional: my daughter glued a large craft stick to it and made it a puppet
Close up square image of a red hat gnome with paper plate beard and pompom nose on a black background.

How to Make This Fun Christmas Craft for Kids 

Below is the written and printable tutorial. You can print it off and read it with the kids or leave this open for them to follow. If you are making a kid’s Christmas craft playlist on YouTube, here is our fun paper plate gnome craft video tutorial.

Yield: 1 Christmas gnome

Paper Plate Gnome Craft for Kids

Square image of a close up view of a red hat and white beard paper plate gnome craft for preschoolers on a black background with pine needles.

This paper plate gnome craft is easy to set up, has almost no mess, and can even be turned into an adorable puppet.

Active Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost $1

Materials

  • red construction paper
  • paper plate
  • a white pompom for the hat and a natural pompom for the gnome nose
  • optional: my daughter glued a large craft stick to it and made it a puppet

Tools

  • scissors
  • glue sticks or craft glue

Instructions

  1. Place the plate onto the paper face down. Let the kids trace the edges of the paper and then draw to make it come to a point at the top. You can see that ours wasn't exact.
  2. Cut out the hat and glue it to the front of the paper plate. You can set it aside to dry, but we used clips to hold it on while they did the rest of the craft.
  3. Glue the pompom nose to the plate under the hat.
  4. Glue the pompom to the top of the hat.
  5. Let the kids practice their scissor skills by cutting along the paper plate pleats to make the gnome's beard.

Notes

For more fun kid's crafts, visit Ruffles and Rain Boots.com

Did you make this?

Please leave a comment or share a photo and tag me @rufflesandrain

RELATED READING: Gnome Paper Roll Craft for Kids

Horizontal image of a Christmas gnome craft for kids with a paper plate, pompom, and paper.

More Gnome Crafts for Kids

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Split vertical image of a paper plate gnome with text which reads gnome craft and scissor practice for preschoolers.

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