Paper Plate Bird Nest: Easy Spring Craft for Kids

This paper plate bird nest is a delightful spring kids craft that is fun to make with just a few supplies.

paper plate bluebird nest craft with pom pom birds

Spring is so full of color and life it’s the perfect season for making fun crafts with the kids. There are so many great ideas for paper plate spring kids crafts, but I wanted to share something that would be fun and simple for parents to do at home, but also an easy craft for teachers and homeschoolers to incorporate into their spring lesson plans.

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I was inspired by these kids books that are perfect for Spring:

Table of Contents

Paper Plate Birds Nest Craft for Kids

What you’ll need:

supplies for making paper plate bird nests and pom pom birds

two 6″ uncoated paper plates
watercolor paint
white crayon or oil pastel
blue pom poms, 1 large and three small
googly eyes
orange cardstock or craft foam
liquid glue
scissors
shredded newspaper

How to Make the Paper Plate Bird Nest

Ok, so at first glance this might look light a bunch of steps. Rest assured, it’s only because I took photos of every.single.part. This project is actually pretty easy and straightforward. You paint the plates, make the birds, glue it all together, and you’re done! However, there are lots of process shots here in case you get hung up on any part.

I hope you and your kids enjoy making your bird nests!

Part 1: Paint the background

painting the paper plate bird nest sky background

First, cut one of your plates in half and set it aside.
On the plate that is still whole, use your crayon to draw a pattern of your choice. We made some with clouds, with loops (shown), dots, and star shapes. It’s totally up to you!
Then, use the blue watercolor to paint the entire plate

Part 2: Paint the nest

Now take the half plate
Use your white crayon to draw a crosshatch pattern over it
Then paint the entire thing with brown paint
Set the two plates aside now to dry and go on to making the birds

Part 3: Make the birds

Collect the pom poms for however many birds you’d like to make (we made one mama bird and three babies for each nest)
Glue the googly eyes onto the pom pom
Cut a small orange triangle from your orange paper
Glue the longest side of the triangle between the eyes of the bird

Part 4: Assemble all the pieces

steps to assemble the paper plate bird nest and the pom pom birds together

Glue the nest (half-plate) onto the background (full plate)
Make sure it’s dry before moving on
You can use some newspaper or magazine shredding to stuff into the pocket of the nest, just as Mama bird would!
Then dab some glue onto the pom pom birds so they stay in place when you put them in their nest