I have been waiting for months to do Crafty Shark Week! I wanted to time it to coincide with Discovery Channel’s annual celebration of Shark Week. My friend Jeanette had a shark-themed party a few months ago and created some fun crafts for the party. These shark jaw decorations are made from paper plates, and are a quick and simple (and striking) way to decorate for your shark-themed party. You could also string them together for a sharktastic party garland.
PAPER PLATE SHARK JAWS
by Jeanette Strole Parks, Off The Cuff Cooking
Project Materials:
- Paper plates, $1
- Scissors, on hand
- Pencil & eraser if needed for extra confidence, on hand
Total: $1
A note about supplies: A “deep dish” non-crimped/non-fluted Chinet style plate worked well for me, because it is smooth and sturdy.
To Make:
1. Fold your paper plate in half “backwards” (with the bottom of the plate facing you, and the folded edges coming toward you).
2. Using small scissors trim away the outer edges of the plate in a sweeping arched “M” design on the top half and bottom half, which should leave it looking like the hinges on the jaw, and the “m” shaped bottom & top of the mouth. Look at pictures on Google of real shark jaws to get inspiration, if the craft-samples in the photos don’t help you visualize the outline.
3. Cut out a large oval from the middle, and then work from that center to cut out free-form teeth that follow the inside arc of the paper plate on the top and bottom. I just snipped away happily. Shark teeth are often quite irregular and jagged and not always parallel.
More shark crafts:
Follow Mrs. Greene’s board Shark Week! on Pinterest.
37 Comments
Michelle L.
I know it’s a “just for fun” project – but those things are really beautiful!
mel mccarthy
Too clever & too cute! Oops, I mean scary. Scary mean sharks! ;o)
Peaches
Genius!!!!
I seriously want to make these and run around the neighborhood with them taped to my face. My neighbors will crap their pants.
Awesome.
Off The Cuff Cooking
Thanks for the feedback everyone … I hadn’t ever seen something like this before — in fact I tried to find instructions online because I had this idea to make shark jaws from paper plates, but nothing quite in this style came up on my online searches. So it might be a fairly unique project.
Meran
This is perfect! my little guy is obsessed with a shark puppet he got for christmas. he runs around all day making “sharky” attack people’s knees. we’ve been dabating having a shark theme or a train theme for his second birthday (he also loves trains- we live right next to the tracks). I’ll keep this in mind when his birthday gets closer. thanks!
Andrea
This is awesome! I am definitely doing this with my kids at camp this summer!
Stephanie
Jawsome!
Alicia
My son wanted a “sea diver” themed party for his fourth birthday….I made these and punched holes in the jaw hinge sides and strung them up as decoration….they were a big hit! Thanks for the idea!
shirley tener
thanks for sharing, I had fun with my gson on this
Jennifer
Wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing this!
Margie
Love these and would like to make some for an upcoming party, but not quite sure how to actually display them. Open to suggestions if anyone can offer help. Thanks,
Off The Cuff Cooking
Margie — When I first made this craft, I just lined several up along the middle of the dinner table like a ‘runner’ … You could also staple them to ribbon like a bunting or garland and hang them along a wall, or at the top of a window, perhaps. Other ideas might be to put large glass jars with tea lights in the middle of each jaw for fun way to add ambiance to a night-time party. Perhaps you could also put the shark jaws on top of cookie platters or veggie trays of the same size so the guests have to ‘reach into the jaw’ to retrieve their snacks?
Dollarstore Crafts also featured another shark-themed craft that I created to use at the same birthday dinner, which was shark-name tags to use on everyone’s drinking glasses:
https://dollarstorecrafts.com/2011/08/easy-themed-drink-charms-shark-week/
Just a few suggestions! Have fun and thanks for enjoying this craft idea and incorporating it into your party.
Margie
Thank you so much for the suggestions. The party is not for several months, but I’m going to try them out next week just for fun!
Valerie
We made something similar. A little toned down for my preschoolers.Here is the site. http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.com/2011/03/paper-plate-shark-craft.html
Heather
Wow! These are perfectly in the middle of cute and scary. They really look like teeth! Thanks for sharing. : )
Serena
Lol – love these! I love Off the Cuff Cooking’s suggestion to place them over food, so that people will have to reach inside the shark’s mouth. “Wanna cookie? Well, you’re just gonna have to stick your hand inside the shark’s mouth! Heh, heh, heh.”