Does your toddler or preschooler like making paper plate crafts with pom poms? And does your child like cute animals?

Here’s a cute little snail craft you can make with your little one with just a few simple supplies.

Bonus: I also have a free printable to help you out!

{This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.}

Supplies Needed for this Craft:

• Pom poms
• Paper
• Paper plates (the 6 inch ones work best but you can use 9 inch too)
• Scissors
• Glue or glue sticks
• Printable snail bodies and faces

Age adjustments for this craft:

Toddlers

One-year-olds and two-year-olds will need the printables cut out for them. You’ll also need to supervise their use of glue.

You may also need to create your own as a guide so they know what it looks like when it’s done.

Preschoolers

Three-year-olds and four-year-olds can cut try to cut out the snail bodies and faces with kid safe scissors. They may need help.

It’s good to start to learn scissor skills at this age, but always supervise scissors.

Toot cut a chunk of her hair off when she was three. Whoops. We also had a few close calls with her trying to cut pieces of paper that were important like checks.

Preschoolers can also make patterns with the pom poms. Toot is learning about patterns at her school right now.

Kindergartners and older kids

Five-year-olds and up might be able to do the entire craft by themselves.

If your child is skilled with scissors, they can cut everything out without help. You should probably still supervise though.

How to Make a Snail Craft with Paper Plates

1. Print out the free snail template

You can get the free template here.

They come in every color of the rainbow. So you can make your snail red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, or pink.

And they come with the eyes and mouths.

If you don’t want to use the template or if you don’t have access to a printer, you can draw the same shape on colored pieces of paper. Construction paper or printer paper work well.

2. Cut out the shapes

You can prepare this part yourself if you have toddlers. Or you can let your child attempt to cut out the swirls and faces themselves.

3. Cut the bottom of the paper plate

Cut a small section off of the bottom of the plate to make it into a flat bottom.

That’s where the snail’s “feet” go. lol Well, the slimy part that moves them.

4. Add the eyes and mouth

Use the eyes and mouth from my free printables to give your snail a face.

You could also use googly eyes if you have them.

Or if you aren’t using the printable, just draw them on with markers or crayons.

5. Attach the snail swirl to the plate

Glue the swirl onto the plate to make the body.

Try to keep it low or flush to the bottom of the plate.

You can let the head come off of the plate a little or keep it all the way on like I did. It kind of works better for structure that way.

6. Glue pom poms around the swirl

This is where your child can be creative. They can choose whatever color pom poms they want. They can even try to make a pattern.

Toddlers can try alternating patterns like red, blue, red, blue.

Preschoolers can do three or more colors in a pattern.

Or just glue them on at random. It’s all just for fun!

7. Let it dry and display!

After it dries your child can show it off to their family and friends.

They might even try to have a snail race.

Continuing this Craft into a Lesson about Snails

You can teach your kids more about snails with books like these:

• Everything You Should Know About Snails (best for Kindergarten and up)
• Are You a Snail?
• Escargot
• Let’s Look at Snails

And if you like this craft, check out my thumbprint bugs and garden animals craft. There’s a snail in it too!

Cute Snail Paper Plate Craft for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Yield: 1 Snail Craft

Use pom poms, paper plates, and a printable to make these cute little snail crafts with your kids.

Print

Materials

• Paper plates
• Pom Poms
• Glue
• Printable snail bodies and faces

Tools

• Printer
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Print out the free snail template included with this post.
2. Cut out the shapes. If your child is old enough, let them cut.
3. Cut one side of the paper plate to create a flat bottom.
4. Add the mouth and eyes. You can use googly eyes instead or draw a face on.
5. Attach the snail swirl with glue.
6. Glue pom poms around the swirl.
7. Let dry.

Notes

If you're not using the template, sketch a similar shape on colored paper.

Related:  50 Toddler Approved Recipes for the Whole Family

Try having your child make a pattern with the colors of the pom poms.

Make one in each color of the rainbow. The printable includes Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Pink swirls.

Get the printable here.

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