If anything can rival the cuteness of Christmas elves, it’s our Paper Plate Handprint Christmas Elf Craft, featuring handprints as the collar. Elves and handprints together! It’s nearly as wonderful as Santa during the holidays. Really, it doesn’t get much better.
We’ve already been enjoying plenty of Santa Claus movies and Elf, too. So, yes, pointy ears and elf hats have been appearing everywhere. Naturally, we wanted to join in on the excitement. We created a Free Printable Elf Template with every piece needed to make this project completely enjoyable.
Adding the handprint collar to our elves is the perfect final detail. Think of it as the marshmallows atop hot chocolate—or the syrup covering spaghetti. Buddy the Elf fans will understand, and we’re fans as well.
Christmas Handprint Elf Paper Plate Craft
To begin making our Christmas elf, print the elf template.
Next, gather paper plates, tan acrylic paint, cardstock in tan, pink, red, and any colors you prefer, medium sized googly eyes, a ⅝” circle paper punch, black sharpie, scissors, and a glue stick.
Christmas Elf Craft Supplies Needed
Handprint Elf Craft Step by Step Directions
Start by covering a paper plate with tan acrylic paint.
If tan paint isn’t available, as was the case for us, combine brown and white until you reach the desired shade. Allow the paint to dry fully.
As the paint dries, print the elf template and separate the pieces. Trace the ears onto tan cardstock and cut them out. Select a color for the hat, then trace and cut it out. Finally, choose a hair color, trace the shape, and cut it out as well.
You’ll also need a strip of cardstock in another color for the hat trim. We cut triangles across the long side of the cardstock.
Using the same cardstock color as the hat trim, trace and cut out two handprints.
Next, attach the hat trim with glue.
Trim off any extra cardstock around the edges.
Attach the hair along the lower edge of the hat.
Once the paper plate has dried completely, glue the hat onto it.
Position and glue the ears along the sides, immediately beneath the hat.
With a ⅝” circle paper punch, create two pink circles and one red circle.
Attach the googly eyes, then glue the red circle on as the nose.
Place the two pink circles as cheeks and secure them with glue. Afterward, draw a basic mouth with a black sharpie.
To finish, glue the two handprints together with the fingers opened as widely as possible.
Finally, attach the handprints to the elf’s lower section to complete this adorable Christmas craft for kids, almost as delicious as pancake syrup.
Share this Craft!
Enjoy this project? Save the image below to Pinterest! And tell us on Instagram if you made it!
More Christmas Elf Crafts for Kids
There are plenty of other entertaining Christmas elf projects to try, including our Paper Cone Elf Craft, Paper Bag Elf on a Shelf Craft, and Cardboard Roll Elf Craft. We have lots of other creative ideas, too, so visit Our Kid Things for even more enjoyable Christmas crafts for children!
Materials
- Elf Template
- Paper plates
- Tan acrylic paint
- Cardstock – tan, pink, red, preferred colors
- ⅝” circle paper punch
- Medium googly eyes
- Black sharpie
- Scissors
- Glue stick
Instructions
- Start by covering a paper plate with tan acrylic paint.
- If tan paint isn’t available, combine brown and white until you achieve the shade you want. Let the paint dry completely.
- While the paint dries, print the elf template and cut apart the pieces. Trace the ears onto tan cardstock and cut them out. Select a hat color, then trace and cut it out. Finally, choose a hair color, trace the shape, and cut it out as well.
- Cut a strip of cardstock in a different color for the hat trim. We cut triangles across the long side of the cardstock.
- Trace and cut two handprints from the cardstock color used for the hat trim.
- Next, glue the hat trim onto the hat.
- Remove any extra material from the edges.
- Glue the hair along the bottom of the hat.
- After the paper plate has dried fully, glue the hat onto the paper plate.
- Glue the ears onto the sides just below the hat.
- Use a ⅝” circle paper punch to create two pink circles and one red circle.
- Attach the googly eyes.
- Glue the red circle into position as the nose.
- Glue the two pink circles on as cheeks.
- Then, draw a simple mouth with a black sharpie.
- Finish by gluing the two handprints together with the hands spread as far apart as possible.
- Lastly, glue the handprints to the elf’s bottom to complete this adorable Christmas kids craft that’s almost as sweet