Let’s make a super fun paper plate school bus craft! Making a school bus craft with a paper plate is a fun project to make with the kids to get them ready for back to school this year. Use this school bus craft at home or in the classroom with kids of any age.

A paper plate school bus craft to make with kids - big yellow school bus finished craft with craft supplies around including paint, scissors markers and pencil
Make this fun paper plate school bus with the kids before school starts.

paper plate school bus craft

We are going to make this bright and colorful paper plate school bus with the kids. It’s the perfect craft to make before school starts, and I bet you have everything you need to make your own at home.

Related: School jokes for kids

We are going to use a large paper plate, acrylic paint, and scissors to cut out and paint this fun school bus craft.

Supplies needed to make a paper plate school bus

a paper plate, scissors, pencil, and acrylic paint to make a paper plate school bus craft
Gather a paper plate, pencil, scissors, and paint to make this school bus craft.
  • White paper plate
  • Acrylic paint – yellow, white, black, and red
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Paintbrush
  • Permanent marker

Instructions for making a paper plate school bus

Step 1

step 1 for making a paper plate school bus craft is to draw the main outline of the school bus onto the paper plate
Draw the outline of your school bus onto the paper plate.

Using your pencil, draw the outline of your school bus onto the paper plate. Using the scissors, cut out your bus.

Note:  I used a permanent marker because it was hard to see the outline of the bus in the photograph using a pencil. You can use a marker in the final step though to outline everything.

Step 2

step 2 for making a paper plate school bus craft is to draw everything you need to paint onto the paper plate bus
Draw the windshield, lights, and other features onto your school bus.

Using the pencil, draw the windshield, lights, wheels, grill, and other features onto your school bus.

Step 3

step 3 for making a paper plate school bus craft is to paint your school bus
Paint your paper plate school bus with yellow, red, black, and white paint.

It’s time to paint your school bus. We mixed a little red and yellow paint together to paint the front grill of the bus.

Use a permanent marker to write ‘school bus’ across the top of your bus craft, and then outline all of the bus features.

Our finished paper plate school bus craft

a school bus paper plate craft for kids
This paper plate school bus craft is so easy to make.
Yield: 1

Paper Plate School Bus

a school bus paper plate craft for kids

We are going to make a fun paper plate school bus craft for back to school.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Difficulty easy
Estimated Cost $1

Materials

  • White paper plate
  • Acrylic paint - yellow, white, black, and red
  • Pencil
  • Permanent marker

Tools

  • Scissors
  • Paintbrush

Instructions

  1. Sketch the shape of your school bus onto the paper plate using a pencil, and then cut it out.
  2. Using the pencil add all of the features for your bus including the windshield and lights.
  3. Paint your school bus using red, yellow, black, and white paint.
  4. Write 'school bus' across the top of the paper plate and then outline all of the bus features using the permanent marker.

More fun back-to-school crafts from Kids Activities Blog

Have you made our paper plate school bus craft? How did it turn out?



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2 Comments

  1. This craft is adorable. I am terrible at free hand drawing or tracing, might you have a template for this?
    Thank you

    1. Hi, Lonni! Unfortunately, we don’t have a template, but I have a couple ideas! You could print out one of the pictures from this post (maybe zoom in and enlarge it, and then print it paper sized, not photo sized), and then make a template. Or, you could print out the school bus tracing page from this printable set and use it as a template–it’s a slightly different look, but still a school bus: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/57131/tracing-coloring-pages/. I hope those ideas help!