Kids Art Plates - Gifts Kids Can Make

So.. you know me, I LOVE thrifty, economical, recycled crafts – I like crafts that you can more or less do easily at home – using cereal boxes or TP Rolls… or crafts that use things you have collected on a walk to the park… but every so often, I can’t resist a “non thrifty craft”, something that the kids LOVE to do, but that does mean you have to get some “special stuff” – so we have some Kids’ Art Plates. So, I am a little bit sorry, that you can’t just go off and do today’s craft, but at the same time, we had such fun doing it and the results are so pretty, that maybe I urge you to splash out on some “specialist” equipment (namely some porcelain pens)!!! I think the investment is worth it, as they make wonderful gifts for family and friends (and not just from the kids, from you too!! I am thinking of making a whole set! I really enjoyed decorating these plates too!).

And if you don’t fancy those – just head over to our recycled crafts and be inspired there instead 😉

My plates (the orange haired girl and lion), where inspired by – these sweet girls on Flickr and this Paper Plate Lion!

Kids Art Plates – Materials –

* You will need some Porcelain Pens.

I used these for UK Readers (affiliate link) – they come in packs of 5 (you choose a set you like) and you need to bake them in the oven. For US readers I have found this set by reputable brand Pebeo – but I can’t ACTUALLY say how good they are, as I haven’t used them. But I trust this brand (I have some their products and love them).

I have heard that “apparently” American (NOT UK) Sharpie brand permanent markers can be dishwasher safe. I do not know if this is true…. but you can experiment?

* Inexpensive plain plates (from the Pound Shop/ Dollar Store) – I again bought some small ones online (17cm), here is a larger set. Or try places like Ikea

* an oven!

* paper and pencils

PLEASE NOTE: The pen say that they are DISHWASHER proof, but they are NOT – they are only dishwasher safe to 50C, but I think many settings are hotter than that. So, it is safer to say that they are VERY handwash proof… but fared “so so” in the dishwasher…. HANDWASH ONLY! (as we found out the sad way!).

Kids Art Plates – Materials –

I encouraged BOTH KIDS to design their plates on PAPER first. If your kids are like mine….. they need to have a go first, else they will get side tracked or confused or distracted and then get all upset about something being out of line.

Having said that, I did NOT “force” them to STICK to their designs, they actually ended up doing slightly different things. It just gave them the confidence to get drawing and have a rough idea of what they wanted to do.

The results were wonderful – especially since we did something similar a year ago and only had a BLACK porcelain pen and we did no designing first. The results, were no where near as nice. The kids just scribbled and enjoyed seeing the black marks (*special* in their own way of course!).

Once finished we followed the instructions on the pens – let dry for 4 hours and then bake in the oven for 90min at 160C. Letting the plates heat up with the oven and cool down with the oven. I think the Kids’ Art Plates turned out so cute!

Note: we discovered that the colours run a bit when wet. So take care putting two colours directly next to each other. Let dry a little first.

And doesn’t Red Ted’s Pirate Art Plate simply make a fantastic gift?

The Englishman had a go too!!

Now I have the usual problem of persuading the kids, that they should give at least ONE of their plates away as a Christmas present (after all, that was the whole point, right?!). But as per usual, they love the so much they want to keep them all!!

The kids were SO pleased with the plates, that I ordered some more and we made a set of Christmas Plates as Thank Yous to their teachers. I think they are super cute!! And yes, the kids did all the writing themselves… so proud! We added their names and “year made” on the back.

Looking for more Gifts Kids Can Make? Take a look here!