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Making Masks with Paper Plates
Creating paper masks with paper plates is super easy and lots of fun! If you are looking for a simple craft to do with your littles during these days that you are stuck at home, try this one out!
It is also a perfect segway to be able to talk with your kiddos about everything that is going on around them. But I’ll get to that at the end of this post.
Begin with a paper plate. Decide the animal you would like to make.
We chose a lion, a unicorn and a turtle. We used foam paper, but you can easily use construction paper or whatever else you have on hand.
To make a unicorn:
Begin by cutting out your horn and attaching it to the center of your plate. Next draw the face of your unicorn with a black marker. Next cut out her ears. We used white and pink foam paper to make the ears.
Next cut out the tufts of unicorn hair for her mane. We used rainbow colors for a bright and colorful mane.
Next begin attaching your pieces. You can use Elmer’s glue, Modge podge, or a hot glue gun. Lastly attach your stick so that you can hold your mask up (we used a popsicle stick) or you can poke holes in the sides of the mask and use string to attach it around your head.
Making a turtle and a lion is similar. To make our turtle we covered the plate with green foam paper, instead to make the lion we decided to paint the plate itself.
Turtle:
Lion:
Just make sure that if you choose to paint or color your plate, that you allow the paint or color to dry before adding the pieces you need to create your animal.
It’s as easy as that!
It’s also a great opportunity for conversation:
I made these with my daughter. Our conversation went like this:
“Are you having fun making these masks?”
“Yes!”
“When you think of masks now, what comes to mind?”
“The word masks make me think of everything that is going on right now.”
“So how do masks make you feel?”
“A little scared. Like someone might get sick and that we are still stuck at home. Which is really hard.”
From creating a mask, with a few simple questions, I was able to interact with my child and help her to talk about what she has been seeing on us when we go out wearing masks, or in images and on the news etc.
Take advantage of these opportunities to provide a safe space for your child to talk about how they are feeling. Not only is it a chance for you to listen. It is also a chance for you to talk about something difficult and scary in a lighter way by using the craft to help them communicate.
Give lots of hugs, listen, pray together if you need to and then just relax and have fun creating. You can even create your animal! Something completely new and different.
HUGS from me too! For any questions or difficulties feel free to contact me in the comments or via message on my Dolceamericana Instagram account. Take care, stay home and stay healthy!