Paper Plate Snails
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If you’ve been here with me for a while, I have plenty of paper plate crafts of all sorts–endlessly fun and sweet, you can’t go wrong. These paper plate snails are no different!
You can make this fellow any color you’d like with a quick swap of colors in the beads and paper. Paper plate snails are a wonderful option to craft just for fun or to teach lessons.
It’s a wonderfully simple craft, but if you need more assistance with all that goes into the project, check out my YouTube page. This DIY Paper Plate Snails video will help you.
With all of that said, let’s move on to the post! I hope that you enjoy these darling snails as much as I do!
Supplies You’ll Need
Scissors
How to Make Paper Plate Snails
Step 1. To start our paper plate snails, grab your black marker and colored cardstock paper. Take the marker and draw a snail-shaped body.
Step 2. After cutting out your snail’s body, we’ll attach the two small pipe cleaners. A hot glue gun works best for this activity. You can use other glues if needed.
Step 3. Right after the initial body construction, we’ll attach two googly eyes with hot glue. After the eyes are on, add the snail’s smile with the black marker.
Step 4. Once the body is finished, we’ll move on to its shell. The shell is the most intricate part of this paper plate project, but it makes the snails pop at the end!
Start in the center and move outward in a spiral shape. As the hot glue gets added to the page, immediately follow with the beads.
Step 5. As you’re creating the beaded part of the shell, add glue a little at a time to ensure your beads are in order.
Pattern and even color recognition can be a great mini-lesson within the craft, too!
Step 6. The farther you get along in the spiral, the more space between each line should be wider. That way, you won’t spend as much time on this part and will conserve the amount of beads used.
Step 7. After all the beads are on, we will attach the body. Add just enough body to attach to the paper plate securely. Again, hot glue generally is what works best for this craft–let the snails sit if needed.
Step 8. Once all parts are dry, your paper plate snail is finished! Add them to a fun class mural, add a second plate to make a card, or anything else!
They are adorable on display anywhere within your home or as gifts to a loved one. The snails are sure to make a statement wherever they make trails.
More Cute Crafts
Paper Plate Snails
Equipment
- Black marker
- Scissors
Materials
- Paper plate
- 1 x colored cardstock paper
- Colorful beads
- Googly eyes
- 2 x pipe cleaners 2″ long
- Black marker
- Scissors
Instructions
- Grab your colorful cardstock and your black marker. Draw a snail’s body on the paper.
Cut the body out and set it to the side. - Hot glue the pipe cleaners to the snail's body backside. Let dry and turn to move to the next step.
- Attach googly eyes with hot glue to the pipe cleaners and draw a black smile on the area below to round out the snail’s facial features.
- The next couple of steps involve alternating hot glue and adding beads to the hot glue. Start in the middle and work outward.
- Continue your spiral of hot glue and beads. The specific segments are best since hot glue dries faster than other glues.
- As you move farther away from the middle, the space allotted can grow to conserve time and the amount of beads used to create your snail.
- After all of the beads are attached and you are finished with your spiral, return to the snail’s body.
We’ll attach it on the opposite side, then the beads, with just enough for the neck to stick comfortably. - Once all is dry, your paper plate snail is finished! Add it to a space that needs a pop of color or share it with a loved one–any way you decide to use the paper plate snail.
