Simple Mask Making

We made these simple feather masks the other day and they turned out so lovely!  Cassie enjoyed this activity a lot.... as most kids love making masks and wearing them!  This picture cracks me up because she truly looks unrecognizable to me! ***At the end of this post I have included some great links to visuals of masks around the world.  This will give children and adults endless inspiration to create a mask!  

To make this mask we use a thicker white paper.  You could use construction paper, tagboard, or even white scrap booking pages! Fold your paper in half either vertically or horizontally.  Then on the fold I drew a slot shape for the eyes, a small shape for the nose, and a curvy mouth.

I made the shapes like this so that it would be much more simple for my daughter to cut out.  I wanted her to be able to cut it out herself and a "two eye"mask is too difficult for cutting.

After the facial features of the mask are cut,  draw whatever shape you want around the eye, nose, and mouth.  The shape could be curvy, zig-zag, or both!

When the main part of the mask is cut out,  begin to design with markers or crayons.  With older kids you could talk more about symmetry by making each half of the mask the same.  For example: If there is a red circle on the top left,  then make sure there is  a red circle on the top right of the mask!

After the marker designing, C added feather with tape on the back of the mask.  She also added foam shapes for more dimension.  You could also simply use construction paper scraps or whatever else you want  to embellish the mask with!

Here is the mask ready to wear or display!

To make the mask wearable,  I simply put a long paper strip of thick paper on one side, measured C's head, and attached the other end with a second staple on the other side.  I stapled near the eyes so the strip kinda rests above the ears.  The mask can be slid over the head to be worn.

Inspiration to Create a Mask!!!!

***Most children think masks are just for Halloween, but it is great to share with children the variety of masks that there are from all over the world. Children love looking at masks and love talking about them too!  Here are some links about all kinds of masks with pictures.

Masks of the World (including Japan, Peru, Greece, Egypt, China, and more!)

Masks from around the world (a great site with masks you can purchase that are from South America,
Bali, North American Indian, Mexico,and the list goes on....)

Or just do a Google Image Search of: Masks From Different Cultures and you'll get a fabulous display of masks!!!!

Happy Mask Making!!!

This post is linked to: It's Playtime