Paper Plate Apple Craft

If you’re looking for a simple and fun way to welcome fall, this Paper Plate Apple Craft is the perfect choice! Kids will love turning everyday art supplies into a colorful caramel apple, complete with rainbow sprinkles for extra sweetness. With a little paint, a wide popsicle stick, and paper, they can create a cute fall display for their classroom bulletin board or home.

Pair this craft with our Salted Caramel Apple Dip and our Apple Stamped Caramel Apple Craft.

Paper Plate Caramel Apple Craft

Caramel apples are a classic fall treat, and this craft captures their charm without any of the sticky fingers. It’s a fun activity to pair with an apple farm visit, giving kids a chance to make their own apple afterward. Along the way, they’ll practice painting, cutting, and gluing—perfect skills for building hand strength and coordination.

Apple crafts are also a great way to tie in learning. Kids can practice the letter “A,” identify words that start with it, and connect the activity to early literacy skills. At the same time, they can explore the different parts of an apple—stem, skin, and core—learning about the fruit in a fun, hands-on way.

Craft Supplies Needed for Paper Plate Apple

Before you get started, make sure you have everything you need.

• White paper plates – 6″
• Wide popsicle sticks
• Acrylic paint – brown, beige, red, green, and yellow
• Paintbrush
• Cardstock or construction paper – all colors
• Scissors
• Tacky craft glue

Directions for the Apple Craft

Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your own delicious apple craft!

STEP 1: Prepare the sprinkles. Gather your supplies, then cut colored cardstock into 1-inch long strips to make the paper sprinkles.

STEP 2: Paint the apple and stick. Paint the paper plates red, yellow, or green for the apple base. If you’d like, paint the wide popsicle sticks beige to look like caramel apple sticks. The natural wood looks great too!

STEP 3: Add the caramel layer. Once the paint is dry, use brown paint to add a caramel layer across the top half of the apple.

STEP 4: Add the sprinkles. Glue the paper sprinkles onto the caramel layer to give your apple a colorful topping.

STEP 5: Attach the stick. Glue the wide popsicle stick to the bottom of the apple to complete your caramel apple craft.

Take It Further

Once the kids have made their caramel apples, you can take the activity further with these ideas:

• Pair this book with Apples by Gail Gibbons.
• Add glitter glue for “sparkly” caramel drizzle.
• Make a paper plate apple garland to decorate a bulletin board or mantel.
• Use the craft as a writing prompt—have kids describe their apple or write a story about going to the apple farm.
• Turn the project into a math activity by counting and sorting the paper sprinkle colors.
• Hold an apple taste test with real apples! Compare sweet, tart, and crisp varieties.
• Use white paper plates to make an Apple Core Craft complete with a worm.
• Celebrate National Caramel Apple Day on October 31st!

More Fall Apple Crafts for Kids

If you and your kids enjoyed this paper plate apple craft, you’ll love these other easy and fun apple activities:

• Use our free printable Apple Outline to design your own apples for crafting or decorating.
• Use wide craft sticks to make a Popsicle Stick Apple!
• Practice mindfulness with our Apple Glitter Jars.
• Use paper strips to make a 3D Paper Apple Craft.
• Enjoy a fall nature walk, collect pine cones, then make Pine Cone Apples!
• Scraps of ribbon and mason jar lids make the cutest Scrap Ribbon Apple Suncatchers.

Save This Craft

Save this craft on Pinterest using the image below!