Paper Plate Peace Sign

With Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Day coming up, I was looking for a simple craft to get my little ones talking about peace and the reason why we celebrate this holiday. I loved that this project was something that even my toddler could join in on! As they painted, we talked about how it's important to be nice to everyone even if they look different or act differently than us. We followed it up with a reading of Martin's Big Words. My little ones loved learning about someone new and proudly hung their peace signs on the refrigerator for Daddy to see!

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Materials you'll need

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1
Gather all materials. We used a piece of construction paper under the paper plate to help contain the mess and then the kids painted on their paper when they were finished with their plates.

Step 2
I created a peace sign on the paper plate using painter's tape by making one straight line down the middle of the plate and then adding two diagonal pieces from the center.

Step 3
Each of my kids got a paper plate with different color paint and some paintbrushes to decorate their plates. My two-year-old lost interest with the paintbrushes so I think finger-painting would have been a better option for him to help him cover the whole plate.

Step 4
My three-year-old did great with the sponge brushes and my four-year-old enjoyed making each section of his peace sign a different color.

Step 5
Once the plates were finished, the kids painted their papers while we waited for them to dry.

Step 6
When they were dry, they carefully peeled the tape off to reveal the white lines underneath. The little kids thought it was so cool that the paint couldn't get under the tape.