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July 8, 2020

Toucan Craft

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Are you sick of paper plates yet?? I can’t seem to create something without using them lately. The inspiration for this fun toucan craft came from Chalk Talk. I saw how they used a paper plate for a beak and it was an instant winner for me!

Completed kids toucan craft laying flat on a pink background.

My family recently took a trip to our local bird aviary. My son was delighted to see a Toucan and told me it was his most favorite bird he saw while at the aviary. That definitely warrants a craft don’t you think?

[This craft project was originally posted on May 4, 2012. It has been updated with a digitized craft template, video tutorial and updated photos.]

Toucan craft made by child laying on a brown tile background.

How to Make a Toucan Craft

Whether you’re looking for a fun preschool craft to add to your bird or rain forest theme or you’re looking for some fun, new summer activities for kids, this toucan craft is perfect!

Read our easy how-to instructions below for how to make your own toucan. Make sure to watch our craft tutorial video inside this post before you get started too.

Materials you need to make this bird craft

  • Toucan Pattern Template <—– Get the Free Template Here
  • 2 sheets Black Cardstock Paper
  • quarter sheet of brown cardstock paper
  • small paper plate
  • red and yellow tissue paper
  • red, green, orange paint (or whatever colors you want to paint the beak)
  • black paint
  • paintbrushes
  • large googly eye
  • school glue or glue stick
  • white crayon or pencil
  • scissors

Instructions for making your own Toucan

1. Cut your small paper plate in half. Cut the end of one of the half’s off and give it a little bit of a curved shape at the bottom to form the beak. Here’s a close-up of the beak pictured below so you see what I mean.

2. Paint the full half section of the paper plate black. This section will be used for the wings of the Toucan. Paint the beak section with the colors of your choice. We modeled our beak after the Toucan we saw at the Aviary, so my son used red, light green and orange in his beak. Let the pieces dry completely.

See Also: The Little White Owl Craft

Four image collage showing steps for making a toucan craft.

3. Next cut out your Toucan body and feet. I have made my template available for you on Google Drive: Toucan Template. I traced the body template onto a black piece of cardstock paper for my son to cut out and I cut out the two feet on brown cardstock paper.

4. For the tail feathers, trace your child’s closed hand on a piece of black cardstock paper and cut it out, then have your child glue it onto his Toucan body.

Related: Handprint Raven Craft

Square collage image showing step by step how to make a toucan craft.

5. To replicate the yellow and red feathers on the Toucan face and underbelly, I outlined the areas with white crayon, then my son glued yellow and red crumpled tissue paper in those areas.

6. To finish the Toucan, glue on the feet, a large wiggly eye, the black wing and the colorful beak.

Vertical collage image with two toucan crafts facing opposite directions.

More Fun Preschool Bird Crafts

Spring is a great time of year for teaching kids all about birds. This pop up bird craft is a fun interactive craft for kids to explore how a bird hatches from an egg.

This darling fluffy owl babies craft is so much fun for kids to create and it goes with a popular children’s book too!

Birds sitting on a wire against a sunset sky is the inspiration behind this gorgeous bird art project. It’s stunning and so easy for kids to create.

Want to see our full collection of preschool birds? Check out our post with over 75 awesome bird crafts for preschoolers.

75+ Bird Crafts for Preschoolers -Ultimate list of birds activities for kids of all ages. Common birds, tropical birds, peacocks, owls, penguins and more.

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Filed Under: Kids Crafts, Seasonal 15 Comments

« Simple Button Fish Craft for Kids
Pretty Handprint Parrot Craft »

Comments

  1. Bunch of Bishops says

    May 4, 2012 at 10:48 PM

    WOW! This one is the best yet! You are amazing 🙂

    Reply
  2. Betsy says

    May 4, 2012 at 11:56 PM

    YESSSSS! (Imagine me throwing my arms in the air and looking up to the heavens!) I love how the beak is a paper plate. And that little handprint tail is adorable! I am so excited to teach my class about toucans and now I have a craft to go with it! THANK YOU!!

    Reply
  3. Mama Jodi says

    May 5, 2012 at 5:33 AM

    I love this. What a great idea. I love that you used a hand as the tail, and I love simple crafts made of stuff I'd just have around. Great work. Jodi @ http://www.meaningfulmama.com

    Reply
  4. Rachel Kaylynn says

    May 5, 2012 at 5:35 AM

    CUTE! I vote that you can keep the paper plate crafts coming 🙂

    Reply
  5. Jill says

    May 5, 2012 at 11:27 AM

    I love this guy too! So colorful!

    Jill @ Create.Craft.Love.

    Reply
  6. April Larremore says

    May 5, 2012 at 12:49 PM

    I love your toucans!! Thanks so much for sharing the link with me!!

    Chalk Talk

    Reply
  7. Lisa Nolan says

    May 7, 2012 at 1:08 AM

    Love how you mingled it all together! So Montessori! LOL! I pinned it here: http://pinterest.com/lnmontessori/artsy-diy/

    Best to you!

    Reply
  8. Carrie says

    May 11, 2012 at 2:22 AM

    Love this one (as I have all of them!!) Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday! I hope you are having a wonderful week!

    Reply
  9. Carla says

    August 16, 2012 at 8:03 PM

    I love this! I need to add your link to my rainforest unit 🙂
    Thank you!
    Carla
    Playful Learning Brooklyn

    Reply
  10. Cindy deRosier says

    May 2, 2013 at 7:16 PM

    I'm the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured your toucan! You can see it here:

    http://funfamilycrafts.com/paper-plate-toucan/

    If you have other kid friendly crafts, we'd love it if you would submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a wonderful project idea!

    Reply
  11. Laurie says

    September 30, 2013 at 3:19 PM

    I teach at a homeschool co-op, and my first graders are studying different countries around the world. As part of our Brazil day, we made these toucans and they turned out great! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Teri Frederick says

    May 21, 2014 at 1:31 PM

    Wonderful! Great to do with my granddaughter . Love the hand tail. makes it very personal.

    Reply
  13. Dede Holis says

    January 19, 2016 at 12:40 AM

    CUTE! I vote that you can keep the paper plate crafts coming 🙂 http://kreasitangan.com/category/barang-bekas/

    Reply
  14. valérie Robert says

    January 29, 2016 at 4:17 PM

    This bird is beautiful !! I love it !! j'adore travailler aver des assiettes avec les infants !!

    This idea is perfect for the children

    Merci

    thank you

    Lili
    http://lespetitsloulousbricoleurs.centerblog.net

    Reply
  15. Math Problem Solver says

    November 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM

    Hey I am so happy I found your blog page, I really found you by
    error, while I was browsing on Aol for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thanks a
    lot for a tremendous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love
    the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds,
    so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the excellent work.

    Reply

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