Make a paper plate dream catcher to help little ones with anxiety at bedtime. This is a great fine motor craft that to teach early weaving skills to preschoolers. If you’re looking for a dream catcher for older kids to make, check out our beautiful woven CD Dream catchers.
It’s quite common for children, at some stage, to develop a fear of the dark or of monsters or bad dreams when they’re young. If your child experiences anxiety at bedtime, a homemade dream catcher may provide some extra comfort and a sense of control over his or her nighttime insecurities.
Traditionally, it’s said that when a dream catcher is hung above the head of a bed, the webbing of the dream catcher will filter out bad dreams while the good ones slip through and slide down the beaded, feathered strings and into the mind of the person sleeping below.
You may also like our Homemade Worry Stones and Homemade Worry Dolls.
Recently, one of my hooligans made a beautiful paper plate dream catcher to test out this belief.
Earlier this month, Sophie, who’s been with me since she was 11 months old, spent her last 2 days here as a hooligan. The following week, she headed off to all-day, every-day Kindergarten.
We had a wonderful couple of days, just the two of us, sitting under the canopy of the maple tree, crafting in the warm, fall sunshine.
Sophie had her heart set on making as many paper plate crafts as she could during those two days, and I was only too happy to oblige.
A dream catcher was on the top of her list.
Note: For older kids, check out our Woven CD Dreamcatcher.
Supplies:
- a paper plate
- acrylic paints
- a paintbrush
- a ball of yarn
- pony beads
- craft feathers
- a paper punch
- a pair of scissors
How to make a paper plate dream catcher:
To begin, I cut out the centre of the paper plate while Sophie chose her paint colours.
She painted the plate, and then, as the paint dried in the sunshine, Sophie cut the lengths of yarn she would need:
- one long piece of yarn for weaving the “webbing” of the dream catcher
- 3 shorter pieces to dangle from the bottom of the dream catcher
She also spent some time just snipping and cutting up extra pieces of yarn just for fun. I often provide the hooligans with a variety of interesting materials for cutting when they’re practicing their scissor skills. Yarn is always a favourite.
When the paper plate was dry, I punched several holes around the inner edge, and 3 more holes along the outer edge at the bottom of the plate.
I threaded one end of the yarn through an inner-edge hole, and knotted it to secure it in place. Then Sophie worked away stringing the yarn with pony beads, poking the yarn through a hole, and stringing more beads. She repeated that process until she’d gone through all of the holes, and created a lovely web in the centre of her dream catcher.
Then, we attached and knotted the three shorter pieces of yarn to the bottom of the plate, and Sophie threaded beads onto those as well.
To finish, Sophie glued feathers to the 3 bottom strings.
And now it’s ready to hang in the window or a cozy corner of the bedroom.
Isn’t it lovely? Just like the little girl who made it!
Sweet dreams, Sophie! Miss you already!
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
Juleen Uys
Great ideas