I need help describing this kindergarten project?

Oh thats really neat! Wish I could help out. Interesting question!

Magic plate trick

A google search for “design your own plate” yeiled this and this as the first two links. The “paper plate” you draw on i think is special paper, and then you send it into a company that has the machinery to transfer the design to a plastic or ceramic plate. I did these from time to time as a kid, they were fun!

Decoupage?

http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/diycraftsmake_siro.htm

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf79191174.tip.html

I think @hannahsugs got it although, school needs a big budget to do that with hundreds of kids

@hannahsugs OHMYGOD, thank you. That must have been what it was. Damn my lack of understanding at 5 years old.
@SeventhSense My elementary school was small; our kindergarten classes totaled about 45 kids at most.

You really don’t have to pay someone to do it. You can do it yourself with craft materials.

@SheWasAll_
I don’t know if you’re a teacher and/or where you teach but as a former art teacher that is something I would have taken into account. Even 45 kids at 12.95 (@hannahsugs link) a plate comes to 582.75. A little more expensive than boxes of crayons and scissors which last for weeks. For what it’s worth.

It was probably a fundraiser for school, and your parents paid for the plate. Most likely, it did not come out of the school budget, nor was it free. My daughter’s school used this program a lot.

They actually sell kits where you can do this yourself now inexpensively at local hobby stores…HobbyLobby and Michaels are two here. I am not sure how it works but I briefly recall it begin rather easy without the addition of purchasing anything else.

I’ve painted on ceramic and then had it fired so that it becomes a dish… but never a paper plate.

Sounds like a crafty version of transferware.