Hand-Held Paper masks

Mum - there's a monkey at the table!
Children love play-acting and dressing up so why not help them get into mask making? Forget the shop bought plastic efforts - why not encourage them to make their own?

Hand-held paper masks
You'll probably find that the smallest of children don't like to have a mask tied to their ears so a simple hand-held one is ideal.
Bits and bobs needed - Essential: paper plates, lolly-pop sticks*, crayons or felt tip pens, craft glue
Extras: Cardboard scraps, felt,  sequins, scraps of wool or cotton wool for whiskers and hair (we don't recommend pipe cleaner for whiskers as the wire can be quite sharp)

For a basic mask, all you need is a lolly-pop stick for the handle and a plain paper plate. I suggest that you make oval cut outs for the eyes before the plate is decorated or you could be cutting through carefully created art work, causing tears before bedtime!


Animal images can be copied from books - let the children run riot with their choice of colours and positioning of mouths and noses but remember the eyes will have to be drawn in a conventional place.


The joy of these masks is that they can be as simple or as fancy as your child wants - add scraps of wool (using a large darning needle or glue) to create whiskers, beards and hair, a sprinkle of sequins or glitter for fairies, cereal box cardboard ears and toilet roll noses. Make a few vertical cuts in the toilet roll, folding the card back to form tabs to glue onto the plate.

 It shouldn't need saying but  - as I don't want to be served a writ for Johnny snipping off his finger tips - do supervise the smaller ones if they are using scissors!

Finally, use heavy-duty sticky tape or a good craft glue to adhere the stick to the plate.

*Lolly sticks: Hobbycraft