Paper Plate Clock Craft

Hello! This Paper Plate Clock Craft is a perfect way to teach your kids how to tell time, and it’s made with supplies that you probably already have around the house. This craft is also super fast because paint dries very quickly on paper plates. Let’s get started!

Use our time word problem worksheets and make this craft as part of a time telling class lesson!

Paper Plate Clock Craft

Supplies:

• Paper plate
• Two colors of paint
• Coordinating paper
• A brad. This is a round headed paper fastener with two prongs on the other side.
• Black permanent marker
• White gel pen (if you’re using dark paint)
• Ruler
• Paint palette or extra plate
• Craft knife 
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Paintbrush

Place your two paint colors in your palette. Then take a small brush and paint about a 3/4 inch stripe of one color all the way around the rim of the plate. When that has dried, paint a 1 1/2 inch stripe of your other color all the way around the plate just inside of the first color. You make need to do two layers of paint depending on what type and brand you use.

Now let your paint dry completely, about 20 minutes for standard acrylic craft paint. Now you can write your clock numbers! Do the hour numbers first. I start with the main four – 12, 3, 6, and 9. Then I fill in the other numbers in between.

Now if you’re using a dark paint like I did, you’ll need a white gel pen. I highly recommend the Sakura Gelly Roll pens for this, as they’re the most pigmented white gels pens I’ve found. Now go ahead and write in your minutes, in increments of 5. I find that including the minutes in a teaching clock really helps solidify the concept of where the minute hand should be.

Next you’re going to use your ruler and make a mark in the exact center of your clock. Now this will be different for each person based on the size of your plate, but you’ll want to measure from the center to where you want your hour and minute hands to land. Then you’ll add half an inch to those measurements. My final measurements ended up being a 2 1/2 inch hour hand and a 3 1/2 inch minute hand. Take your piece of paper and measure a half inch down from the edge.

Then draw a line straight across to make a half inch wide strip of paper. Cut this off. Then measure out your clock hands on the strip of paper, and cut those as well.

Trim the corners off of one end of each strip to form a point. Next, take your pencil and mark a dot in the center of the other end of the hands. Carefully use your craft knife to make a small hole at each dot.

Next you’re going to make another small hole where we made the dot in the center of the paper plate. Line up your hands with the hour hand on top. Press the brad through the two hands and the paper plate, and open the prongs on the back side of the plate to secure everything together.

You’re all done! I hope you have fun making this Paper Plate Clock Craft and that it’s helpful in teaching your little ones how to tell time!