Paper Plate Seasons Puzzle – Montessori Inspired Craft (VIDEO)

When a friend showed me a gorgeous Montessori seasons puzzle that was discontinued, my DIY brainstorming wheels immediately started turning!  I was inspired to create a paper plate seasons puzzle to teach the calendar year and 4 seasons.

Paper plate seasons puzzle – benefits

Although my daughter already understood spring, summer, autumn, winter and the 12 months, she had not seen the concepts presented in a circular fashion.

The other interesting lesson from this puzzle was the fraction relationship between seasons, months, and year.

Since my kids speak Chinese and English with me, this puzzle is bilingual, but you can label it in whatever language your child is learning.

Here are DIY instructions for this educational paper plate seasons puzzle!  Check out the video of the puzzle in action at the end of the post!

Try this: Fun Printable Scavenger Hunts for Kids (Chinese, Korean, English)

Teach Kids clock and calendar skills

This resource is part of a series on how to teach kids clock and calendar skills:

1. Interactive Perpetual Calendar 
2. Calendar Wheels: Days of the week and Months of the Year
3. Months and Seasons Paper Plate Puzzle (This article)
4. Chinese Zodiac Wheel
5. Teach Kids Time with Simple, Hands-On Clock Activities

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Important vocabulary: fractions and seasons in Chinese, Pinyin, and English

• 十二个月 (Shí’èr gè yuè / 12 months)
• 四个季节 / 四個季節(Sì gè jìjié / 4 seasons)
• 整年 (Zhěng nián / whole year)
• 半年 (Bànnián / half year) = 六个月 / 六個月 (Liù gè yuè / 6 months)
• 四分之一 (Sì fēn zhī yī / One fourth)
• 十二分之一 (Shí’èr fēn zhī yī / One twelfth)
• 太阳 / 太陽 (Tàiyáng / Sun)
• 纸盘拼图 (Zhǐ pán pīntú / Paper plate puzzle)!

Paper plate seasons puzzle: What you need to make it

1. Paint – I used acrylic paint because the color is vibrant, but please note that the smell is a bit strong when the paint is wet.
2. 1 white paper plate and 3 yellow paper plates – we bought from Amazon, but you can also find inexpensive ones at the dollar store! Make sure the paper plates are stiff and have an edge. Also, I recommend using yellow paper plates, because painting the paper plate will soften the plate. I made the mistake of painting a white plate with no edge, and it was very hard to put the 12 month pieces together. So I had to remake the puzzle with the yellow plates shown in the photos.
3. Ruler
4. Pencil
5. Sharpie marker
6. Pen
7. Scissor
8. Optional: Mini Velcro dots

Paper plate seasons puzzle: How to set it up

1. Yellow paper plate #1
   • Write 年 (nián / year) in the center
   • Write 12 months of the year around the edge
2. Yellow paper plate #2
   • Use ruler and pencil to draw a line across the center
   • Cut in half
   • Write 半年 (Bànnián / half year)
3. Yellow paper plate #3
   • Use ruler and pencil to mark and divide plate into 12 pieces
     • Cut in 12 pieces and write the months of the year.
     • Make sure paper plate puzzle is stiff and unpainted, otherwise the pieces will not fit together well for the puzzle.
   • Alternatively, cut into 4 pieces and draw lines to divide the 3 months of each section.  Write names of months (This is how the Montessori puzzle separated the months).
4. White paper plate
   • Use ruler and pencil to mark and divide plate into 4 pieces
   • Cut in fourths
   • Paint trees representing each of the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter, fall) and let dry
   • Write names of seasons on corresponding tree
5. Optional: Add Velcro dots to the front of yellow plate # 3’s pieces and back of yellow plate # 1’s pieces.
   • This enables the puzzle to become a sun!  My daughter has learned that 12 months = 1 year = 1 rotation around the sun, so I thought this was a great way to tie the concepts together!
   • Velcro peeling and sticking is a fun and effective fine motor activity that my daughter enjoyed!

Paper plate seasons puzzle: How to play and learn

1. Determine if the subject is age-appropriate for your child and whether they have been curious about the season.  Talk about the meaning of each of these calendar words!
2. For young children, you may want to focus just on months of the year or just on seasons.  Older kids may be able to earn both concepts simultaneously.
3. Let your child complete the puzzle and match months of the year!  Please note that the months of the year can either be sun rays or simply placed back in the center of the plate! 🙂

By the way, the purple tree in these photos was an extra puzzle piece that my daughter requested.  She loves the color purple and pink, so she asked for two spring flower trees!

Video of Montessori inspired paper plate seasons puzzle!

Here is a video of my daughter working on the paper plate seasons puzzle!

Have you made this paper plate seasons puzzle with your children?

If you try the paper plate seasons puzzle, please let us know in the comment section below!

Educational hands-on learning activities for kids!

• Simple and fun paper plate crafts and activities
• Activities that teach kids season and time concepts

Happy learning, friends!