summer crafts Archives - Paper Plate Fun

Looking for a kids craft to get them buzzing with excitement? Try this paper plate bee craft, which is a simple honey bee project that can help introduce children to one of our favorite pollinators! It is a great spring craft or summer craft for kids, and it’s also an awesome craft to help celebrate National Honey Bee Day in August!

We’ve even included a free bee template for you to help make this project easier! And, because the supplies required are so cheap, this is a wonderful project for large groups of kids.

Supplies Needed for this Bee Craft

As with all projects on Paper Plate Fun, these supplies are the ones we used to create the project as shown in this post. We encourage you to use supplies you have on hand to fit your needs and budget!

Paper plate
Paper plate bee craft template (download it by clicking the link)
Pen or pencil
Scissors
Yellow paint marker (we used a yellow Do-a-Dot to contain the mess!)
Black and red markers
Googly eye
Black pipe cleaner
Glue

How to Make a Paper Plate Bee Craft

Don’t “bee” scared – this kids craft comes together in a snap!

Step One

Print the paper plate bee craft template from the supply list above. Cut out the pieces and trace them onto a paper plate. Then, cut out the bee pieces from the paper plate.

Step Two

Now it’s time to give this honey bee some color! For this project, we used a yellow paint marker (just like we did for our Paper Plate School Bus with Moveable Wheels), because paint markers are a fast way to cover a large surface, and they’re so much less messy than paints and paint brushes! Simply dab on the paint and dry (fast)!

Step Three

Once the honey bee is colored, cut a black pipe cleaner to fit the bee’s body. We used one pipe cleaner for this paper plate bee, and that gave us three stripes.

Glue the pipe cleaner segments onto the bee’s body, and trim any pipe cleaner parts that hang over the edge.

Step Four

Now it’s time to glue on the bee’s wings! Glue one wing to the top back of the bee, and glue the other wing onto the bee’s body – pressing the paper plate piece over the pipe cleaner.

Notice how the wing on the bee’s body is glued as if the paper plate were upside down? This is so that the wing sticks out from the body and gives the bee some dimension.

Step Five

This bee needs to see, so glue on a googly eye!

Step Six

Finally, it’s time to make this bee craft happy! Use a red marker to draw a smile, and a black marker to draw some detail at the top of the bee’s head and to color the bee’s stinger (which was cut out from the paper plate). Glue the bee’s stinger on to the back of the body at this time.

And with that, this paper plate honey bee project is complete!

Make a bunch and have a swarm of bee-utiful paper plate bees adorn your space!

If you enjoyed this easy craft, we’d love for you to check out our ever-growing gallery of Paper Plate Kids Crafts!

You May Also Like This Colorful Paper Plate Bird Craft!

It might sound funny, but these days the hottest fruit around is the lemon! Walk into any store and you’re bound to find lemon-themed decor on the shelves. Whether it’s lemon party decor or lemon home decor, people are definitely sweet on this sour yellow fruit. Why not get in on the trend and make an adorable paper plate lemon bunting to adorn your mantel, your bare window, or your patio on your next summer get together? It’s so easy to make a lemon slice banner, and this post will show you exactly how to do it!

Supplies Used to Make a Lemon Bunting Banner

As with all projects on Paper Plate Fun, these are the supplies we used in this project. Feel free to modify to use the supplies you have on hand already!

Yellow paper plates (dessert size)
Scissors
White paint pen with a thick tip (possible substitutions include white correction fluid or white craft paint)
Twine
Green ribbon and black and white gingham ribbon
Tape
Optional: ruler and a pencil

How to Make a Lemon Slice Banner

You won’t believe how quickly this project comes together. It’s so easy! (Pssst – there’s a video tutorial at the end of this post if you prefer to watch how to make it!)

Step One

Cut a yellow paper plate in half. We used a ruler and pencil to mark the halfway point on our plate, but this is optional.

Step Two

Use a white paint pen with a broad tip to draw the white portions of the lemon slice. We added a white semi-circle at the top, a white band near the bottom of the paper plate, and three white lines connecting the two. This helped transform the yellow paper plate to one that looks more like a lemon.

Step Three

Repeat this process to create as many paper plate lemon slices as you’d like for your bunting.

Step Four

Once the paint has dried on the fronts of the paper plates, cut a piece of twine to be slightly longer than the length of all of the paper plate halves laid out in a horizontal line. Then, tape the twine to the backs of the paper plate halves.

TIP: To give your lemon slice banner more stability, you may wish to add tape to the twine at the edges of the plates, too.

Step Five

Cut green ribbon and black and white gingham ribbon into small strips and tie these ribbon strips onto the twine. These ribbons contrast nicely with the yellow of the lemon plates and give this lemon banner a farmhouse feel!

Repeat this process until the entire banner has ribbon added.

Step Six

Finally, hang your lemon bunting in a place that makes you happy! It’s hard not to smile when you see this adorable lemon slice banner hanging in your space.

If you agree, please make sure to share this sweet lemon decor post to Pinterest or with a friend!

Paper Plate Bee Craft – A Project to Buzz About!

Supplies Needed for this Bee Craft

How to Make a Paper Plate Bee Craft

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five

Step Six

How to Make a Paper Plate Lemon Bunting (for Parties, Home Decor, and More)

Supplies Used to Make a Lemon Bunting Banner

How to Make a Lemon Slice Banner

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five

Step Six

Watch the Video Tutorial for Making a Paper Plate Lemon Banner!