Seriously, who wouldn’t want to make this paper donut craft? 

Our paper iced donuts look almost good enough to eat and are lots of fun for pretend play picnics, parties and shops.

* This DIY toy craft was first published in 2020 and has been updated and reshared for today’s audience.

You might also like our mini sponge cake craft

There’s something about donuts. Is it how good they look? Smell? Taste?

In any case my daughters love them, and they always go for the iced ones when we buy one for a treat at the shops. Today, we’re sharing a way kids can make and design their own iced donuts from paper at home!

For the paper we’ve used brown paper bags, but you could use normal brown paper cut down to size or even newspaper if you have no brown paper. The real secret is in icing them.

We’ve created paper sprinkles from cut up construction paper, and made our own “donut glaze” from DIY mod podge to give the donuts that shiny look.

If they were a bit younger I know my girls would have absolutely LOVED playing shops with these. You could even make your own play money to go with them!

How to make a DIY paper donut craft

You will need:

• thin brown paper lunch bags (these ones with no base or handles), or plain brown craft paper
• coloured construction paper
• scissors
• pva glue mixed with water at 50:50 ratio, or real mod podge
• hole punch
• paint brush
• non-stick baking paper
• glue stick
• optional puffy paint

How to

Roll one paper bag (or piece of paper) up diagonally.

Cut a second paper bag open and trim it so it’s slightly longer than the rolled up strip and about three or four times as wide. Cut a “Tag” sticking out on the end.

Put glue from the glue stick across the end with the tag and roll the paper up. When you get close to the end, bend into a circle and glue into a round shape. You’ll have to squash and shape it a bit with your hands. It will look a bit wrinkly but that’s OK because we’re going to ice them next.

Place the paper donut over a piece of coloured paper and trace around the outside to get the right shape for the icing. Cut it out.

Fold the circle in half and draw a semi-circle against the fold the approximate right shape and size for the hole. Cut it out and unfold.

Lay a sheet of non-stick baking paper down before you do the next part as a surface to work on.

Make some DIY mod podge by mixing PVA glue with water at a 50:50 ratio and stirring with a paint brush. Paint some onto the top of the donut and stick the icing on top. Paint plenty of DIY mod podge on top and around the sides of the icing, bending it to the shape of the donut if you can. 

Make the sprinkles using a hole punch or by cutting paper into a bunch of thin strips and then cutting the strips into tiny rectangular shapes. 

Glue the sprinkles down. You can add a second layer of DIY mod podge over the top if you like to make the donuts extra glossy. Leave to dry.

You can also omit the sprinkles, and once dry pipe “icing” on with puffy paint instead.

Don’t they just look good enough to eat?

Put them in a shoe box or cake tin and store them in the toy kitchen.

paper donut craft

Print

Make yummy-looking donuts from paper for pretend play

Materials

• thin brown paper lunch bags or plain brown craft paper
• coloured construction paper
• optional puffy paint
• mod podge or PVA glue mixed with water at a 50:50 ratio
• glue stick

Tools

• paint brush
• scissors
• lead pencil

Instructions

1. Roll one paper bag (or piece of paper) up diagonally.
2. Cut a second paper bag open and trim it so it’s slightly longer than the rolled up strip and about three or four times as wide. Leave a “Tag” sticking out on the end.
3. Glue across the end with the tag and roll the paper up. When you get close to the end, bend into a circle and glue into a round shape. You’ll have to squash and shape it a bit with your hands.
4. Place the paper donut over a piece of coloured paper and trace around the outside to get the right shape for the icing. Cut it out.
5. Fold the circle in half and draw a semi-circle against the fold the approximate right shape and size for the hole. Cut it out and unfold.
6. Paint mod podge onto the top of the donut and stick the icing on top. Paint plenty of DIY mod podge on top and around the sides of the icing, bending it to the shape of the donut if you can. 
7. Make the sprinkles using a hole punch or by cutting paper into a bunch of thin strips and then cutting the strips into tiny rectangular shapes. 
8. Glue the sprinkles down. You can add a second layer of DIY mod podge over the top if you like to make the donuts extra glossy. Leave to dry.

More pretend play food craft ideas

• Make some pasta and meatballs from felt and round seed pods
• Ice some rocks with nail varnish and glitter sprinkles to make delicious-looking rock cakes
• My girls had so much fun with these glitter sponge cakes as pre schoolers
• Make some DIY paper cookies for pretend tea parties
• Make some cinnamon cookie play dough that smells divine