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Let your imagination run wild as you breathe life to the animal kingdom, with this fun exercise you can create a range of animals from cute kittens to fierce lions. You can then wear the paper plate animal masks with your friends and put yourselves in the shoes of some of the most exotic, friendly or scary animals you can think of – so what are you waiting for?

What you’ll need:

Paper plates (the number of paper plates needed depends on how many animal masks you wish to design – one plate per animal)

Water based paint (in the colours you need for your animals)

Glue

Scissors

A glass of water and two-three paintbrushes

Wiggle eyes or buttons for your animals’ eyes

String, pompoms or any other decorations for your animal

Cardboard

Crayons and pencils

Sticks

What to do:

Step 1: Think about how many animals you would like to create and which colours and materials you will need for each of them before you begin the project. Prepare equipment listed above based on your decision.

Step 2: With the assistance of an adult carefully cut the cardboard to make any decorative parts needed for your mask, for example, most animals will need some ears. Think about any other parts your animal may need, if you are designing an elephant then it will need a long trunk and if you are making a toucan it will need a big beak. You may also need to think whether or not your animal needs horns or a mane before moving onto the next step.

Step 3: Place the paper plate the right side up (as if you had to eat from it) and by using the glue apply the ears to the plate in the correct positions. Next, if you need to attach a trunk or beak to your mask add them and leave it to dry.

Step 4: Once dried, start painting the ears and face with your water-based paint. If you are making a giraffe or a zebra, or any other animal which has spots or stripes, wait for the paint to dry then use a new paintbrush to paint on the spots or stripes.

Step 5: The next step is to add on the wiggled eyes or buttons and bring your animal to life! If you couldn’t find neither of these then you can carefully cut out small circles from the cardboard and use a pencil to draw an even smaller black circle in the middle of each cutting, which would be the pupil. Glue these onto your paper plate mask and leave to set.

Step 6: It’s time to finish your animal’s face by adding a nose and mouth! You can usually just draw these directly onto the mask but if your animal has a snout, like a giraffe for example, it may be best to cut an oval shape from the cardboard and draw nostrils and a mouth onto it before then gluing it onto the mask. If you’d like to make your animal look a little less round try gluing the snout slightly lower down the plate a tiny section of the snout hangs off the mask, this will make your animal’s face look longer and ultimately more realistic. Now is also the time to go crazy and add and other decorations to your mask, go for it!

 Step 7: If you’d like you can either punch a hole in the lateral sides of the plate and then thread a string there to hold your mask on your face or attach a stick to the bottom of your mask for that extra support.

And there you have it, your very own animal mask to enjoy!

Image 1: http://www/dltk-kids.com/animals/image/paper-plate-hippopotamus.jpj

Image 2:  http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/image/paper-plate-cow-craft.jpg