Celebrate Earth Day with a twist on traditional crafts by creating a Paper Plate Heart Sewing Earth Day Craft. This fun fine motor activity combines the art of sewing with painting, teaching kids about the importance of loving our planet. It’s a hands-on way to discuss environmental awareness while practicing fine motor skills, and the finished product is a beautiful symbol of our love for Earth. Perfect for kids of all ages, this craft is sure to spark conversations about how we can protect our home planet, all wrapped up in a creative and fun project.
Material List:
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Blue and green paint
- Single hole punch
- Red yarn
- Embroidery needle
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Create the Heart: Fold the paper plate in half and draw half a heart in the middle. Use scissors to cut out the heart, creating a heart-shaped hole in the middle of the plate.
- Design the Earth: Unfold the plate and use a pencil to sketch out different land and water sections within the heart and on the rest of the plate. This will be your guide for painting.
- Paint the Earth: Fill in the land areas with green paint and the water sections with blue to create a representation of the Earth. It doesn’t have to be perfect; the aim is to show our planet’s beauty.
- Let It Dry: Set the plate aside to dry completely. This might take a few hours, so be patient!
- Punch Holes: Once the paint is dry, use a single hole punch to make holes around the edge of the heart.
- Sew the Heart: Thread the red yarn through the embroidery needle. Start sewing by pulling the yarn through the holes around the heart, crisscrossing to fill the heart space. Secure the end with tape on the back so that it doesn’t come through the last hole.
- Finish and Display: After you’ve gone through all the holes, cut off the excess yarn and tape the end to the back to secure it. Your Earth Day craft is ready to be displayed proudly!
How My Kids Played:
My kids, both aged 5, loved mixing the paints to get just the right shades of blue and green for their Earth. They were especially focused when sewing the heart with red yarn, excitedly talking about how it looked like the Earth was surrounded by love.
Tips for Success:
- Protect Your Workspace: Lay down newspapers or a cloth to keep the paint and any potential mess under control.
- Pre-punch for Younger Kids: For younger crafters, pre-punching the holes can make the sewing process easier and more enjoyable.
- Encourage Creativity: Let your kids interpret the land and water sections in their own way, fostering creativity and personal expression.
Skills Learned:
- Fine Motor Skills: Handling the needle and yarn improves dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Creativity and Imagination: Painting and sewing the Earth fosters artistic expression and imaginative thinking.
- Environmental Awareness: This craft is an excellent opportunity to discuss the importance of taking care of our planet, instilling a sense of responsibility and love for the environment.
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
Paper Plate Sewn Heart Craft
Materials
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Blue and green paint
- Single hole punch
- Red yarn
- Embroidery needle
Instructions
- Create the Heart: Fold the paper plate in half and draw a heart in the center. Use scissors to cut out the heart, creating a heart-shaped hole in the middle of the plate.
- Design the Earth: Unfold the plate and use a pencil to sketch out different land and water sections within the heart and on the rest of the plate. This will be your guide for painting.
- Paint the Earth: Fill in the land areas with green paint and the water sections with blue to create a representation of the Earth. It doesn’t have to be perfect; the aim is to show our planet's beauty.
- Let It Dry: Set the plate aside to dry completely. This might take a few hours, so be patient!
- Punch Holes:Once the paint is dry, use a single hole punch to make holes around the edge of the heart.
- Sew the Heart: Thread the red yarn through the embroidery needle. Start sewing by pulling the yarn through the holes around the heart, crisscrossing to fill the heart space.
- Finish and Display: After you’ve gone through all the holes, cut off the excess yarn and tape the end to the back to secure it. Your Earth Day craft is ready to be displayed proudly!
