Cute Paper Plate Stegosaurus Craft

Make a paper plate stegosaurus craft for a cute activity to do while you learn about one of the most popular dinosaurs.

Stegosaurus is one of the cutest dinosaurs! You can recognize it by the large back plates that look like fins running down its spine. They were probably used to defend stegosaurus from predators.

We’re not sure what color a stegosaurus might have been, but we made this one in shades of green for camouflage. You can make your paper plate dinosaur any color you like!

Dino paper craft tips

• Our stegosaurus craft uses a 10-inch paper plate. If you’re using a smaller plate, you may not need all the back plates.
• Waiting for glue to dry can sometimes take a while. If you don’t want to sit and hold the dinosaur, use clothespins to do it for you.
• We used crayons for this project because they’re less messy, but you can color your dinosaur with paint or markers if you prefer.
• Since this dino is made with paper, it won’t stand on its own. If you want to make the legs stronger, try gluing the paper to cardboard before attaching them to the body.
• You can make your stegosaurus one-sided or 2-sided. For a 2-sided dino, you’ll need to color the front and back of all the body pieces.

How to make a paper plate stegosaurus

Supplies

• paper plate
• craft paper – or print the template on card stock
• wiggly eyes
• crayons
• scissors
• glue

Optional: Sign up for Dinosaur Week to get a printable template.

Instructions

1. Make the dinosaur body.

Start by choosing a color for your dinosaur. Use crayons to color the back side of the paper plate.

Then fold the paper plate in half and crease it. Set it aside for now.

2. Make the dinosaur parts.

Next, create the legs, head, tail, and back plates. There are a couple of ways to do this.

If you’re using the printable template:

• Print the template on white paper and color with crayons.
• Print the template on colored paper.
• Print the template and trace the shapes onto any paper.

If you’re not using the printable template, draw simple shapes for the stegosaurus parts. The head and tail are long, wavy pieces that taper at the ends. The legs are rectangles. The back plates are triangles.

Cut out all the pieces with scissors.

3. Assemble the dinosaur.

Slide the head and tail into opposite ends and glue them in place. Glue the small spikes to the tail.

Glue the back spikes along the edge of the folded plate. Hold it closed until the glue has dried.

Finally, glue the legs to the body. The larger ones go at the back and the smaller ones at the front. Add a wiggly eye to the face.

Now it’s time to play with your dinosaur! Stegosaurus lived about 150 million years ago in wooded areas. Even though it was about as big as a bus, it was an herbivore and ate plants.

These gentle giants probably lived in herds, so make a few more stegosaurus crafts so it has some friends. You could even make a baby stegosaurus craft by printing the template at 50 percent and using a smaller dessert-sized plate.

Printable instructions

Paper Plate Stegosaurus

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 15 minutes

Dry Time 10 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Materials

• paper plate
• craft paper
• wiggly eyes
• crayons
• scissors
• glue

Instructions

1. Make the dinosaur body.
   Start by choosing a color for your dinosaur. Use crayons to color the back side of the paper plate. Then fold the paper plate in half and crease it. Set it aside for now.
2. Make the dinosaur parts.
   Next, create the legs, head, tail, and back plates. Print the template on white paper to color or directly on colored paper. If you're not using the printable template, draw simple shapes for the stegosaurus parts. The head and tail are long, wavy pieces that taper at the ends. The legs are rectangles. The back plates are triangles. Cut out all the pieces with scissors.
3. Assemble the dinosaur.
   Slide the head and tail into opposite ends and glue them in place. Glue the small spikes to the tail.
   Glue the back spikes along the edge of the folded plate. Hold it closed until the glue has dried. Finally, glue the legs to the body. The larger ones go at the back and the smaller ones at the front. Add a wiggly eye to the face.

More fun ideas from Backyard Summer Camp:

• 15 Dinosaur Printables for Kids
• 21 Dinosaur Crafts
• 30 Animal Paper Plate Crafts