Easy Paper Plate Doughnut Craft for Kids

Learn how to make this fun and easy Paper Plate Doughnut Craft for kids. Toddlers and preschoolers will love making this yummy craft this summer. Use it as part of a summer or healthy eating themed unit in your early years classroom.

If you want to make your Summer themed lessons a breeze, then check out the Summer Activity Pack. It’s filled with math and literacy centers, fine motor activities and arts and crafts templates. All of which are aligned with preschool learning standards. Check it out today.

Disclosure: Adult supervision is required for all activities at all times. Some of the links provided in this blog are affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase.

More Summer Arts and Crafts to try

Kids art ideas are the perfect way to spend time on a hot summer day. Here are some more summer themed art ideas to try with your kids.

For more ideas, visit 40 Summer Crafts for Kids.

Materials Needed

Paper plate
Scissors
Pencil
Brown paint
Pink paint
School glue
Rainbow rice or sprinkles
Paintbrushes

How to make a Paper Plate Doughnut Craft

Make the doughnut hole.

1. Draw a circle in the center of the paper plate. I used a paper cup to trace around, but you can also just draw a circle freehand.

2. Take a pair of scissors and cut out the center circle.

Younger children will need help with this step. If you are doing this art project with toddlers or preschoolers, you can prepare this step ahead of time.

Paint the doughnut

3. I started by using brown paint around the edges of the paper plate. I intentionally made the sections of brown paint uneven because I wanted it to look like the pink icing was dripping over the sides of the doughnut.

Doing it this way was a bit fiddly. While older children, with more developed fine motor skills, should be able to do it. Young kids probably don’t yet have the level of control necessary.

So for younger kids I recommend letting them paint the entire paper plate brown. Then let the paint dry before using the pink paint on top.

4. Mix some glue in with your pink paint. This is optional, but it does help the sprinkles to stay attached more effectively.

5. Paint the rest of your paper plate pink. Making sure to leave some of the brown paint showing.

While I used pink paint, you can use whatever color you like for the icing. Ask your children what their favorite flavor is. Maybe they would prefer a chocolate or vanilla doughnut instead.

Add the sprinkles

6. Sprinkle some rainbow rice on top of the pink paint while it’s still wet.

I used my taste-safe rainbow rice recipe to make sensory bins, but I find that it’s really useful for crafts too.

So when your kids outgrow sensory bins, make sure that you save a little bit of rainbow rice and keep it with your craft supplies.

7. Finally, all that’s left to do is to let your doughnut craft dry.

What You’re Learning

Creativity

Let your kids use their imaginations to create their own unique doughnut. For example, instead of sprinkles, they may want a doughnut with chocolate chips instead.

Arts and crafts are a great way to help kids learn how to communicate what’s inside their head (non verbally), in a way that other people can see and understand.

Fine Motor Skills

This doughnut craft helps children practice tripod grasp, hand-eye coordination and dexterity. All of which are essential for pre-writing skills and learning to complete tasks independently.

Healthy Eating

Since doughnuts are a ‘sometimes food’, this is a great opportunity to talk to your kids about healthy eating.

Why are doughnuts a ‘sometimes food’? And what does that even mean? Be prepared to answer all of your children’s questions.

For more ideas, check out these 16 Healthy Eating Activities for Kids.

Planning and Organisation

Crafts with multiple steps are a wonderful way to teach your kids planning and organization. For example, you need to make sure that you have all the materials ready before you can start.

You also need to do certain steps in a specific order, otherwise the end craft will not look as expected. For example, you need to put glue onto the paper plate before adding the sprinkles. If you don’t add glue first, then the sprinkles will just fall off.