[Mardi Gras Index]   [Coloring Pages]   
  

DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Mardi Gras Masks

I was told by many, many people that if I made a Mardi Gras section, it had to have masks.  I'm glad they did!  This was Kaitlyn's favorite Mardi Gras project.  We made the masks a few days ago and she still carries hers around with her.  She was very creative -- adding sequins and feathers without coaching.

There are three different templates.  The basic one is shown in the photos, the butterfly one is great for girls and the eagle one is (according to daddy) very manly looking.

There is also a choice of small and large templates (we mistakenly made the large one for Kaitlyn -- it didn't seem to phase her).

As usual, all the template links are listed after the instructions.

Special thanks to Shenae for sending us her picture of the butterfly mask.
  

Materials:

• printer
• paper
• glue
• scissors
• tape
• something to color with (if you're using the B&W template)
    
• piece of thin cardboard (we recycled a coke can box)
    
• 2 drinking straws OR a ruler OR an unsharpened pencil
      
• OPTIONAL:  
  • sequins
  • sparkle glue
  • feathers

Instructions:

• Print template of choice
      
• Color the template piece, as needed.
    
• Take a big piece of cardboard (we used the coke cardboard... you could use poster board or old cereal boxes) and spread glue on it 
  • try to spread a nice even coat so it doesn't soak through the template  
  • We used our fingers to spread it and then wiped off right away with a damp cloth.
      
• Place the template (face up) onto the cardboard and press it down. 
    
• Make sure all the EDGES of the mask are firmly glued down.
    

• If your kids have the patience, let dry at this point (Kaitlyn didn't, of course, so we moved right to the next step)
    
• Cut out around the mask.  Since we're dealing with cardboard, this is most likely an adult's job.
    
• Poke a hole through the center of the eyes and cut out the eye-holes.  This is definitely an adult's job
    
• Let your kids get creative at this point.  Provide sequins, feathers and/or sparkles.  Let them glue these to the mask.  
    
  • One of the children (age 11) who did this craft put gold sparkles all around the edge and in the star (over all the gold parts of the template).  
      
  • She overlapped small green sequins in all the green parts of the template and 
      
  • she overlapped medium sized purple sequins in all the purple parts of the template.  
      
• Another girl glued multicolored feathers all along the top edge of the mask.

• If you're using straws, slide one straw into the other one 
    
  • I crimped the end of one straw.
      
  • Kaitlyn struggled for 5 minutes to slide the one straw into the other and finally managed it -- she was very determined to do it herself.  
    
    Heaven help the mommy who tried to assist!
      
• tape the joint of the two straws.
    

• not all straws are created equally. 
     
  • Our straws were sturdy enough to hold the mask without bending (after about 4 hours of heavy duty play, we had to reinforce ours too).  
      
  • If yours aren't, wrap them once all the way up in scotch tape or masking tape before attaching them to the mask.  This will reinforce them.  
      
  • If you're doing the butterfly mask, you'll definitely want to do this (it's a bit bigger/heavier)
      
• OPTIONAL:  Tape some feathers to the end of the straw.  We'd used a bendy straw for the top, so could tilt the feather end a bit.

Tasha (the one on the right) is 6 years old.  The large mask fits her just fine.

Mommy (not shown) is... er, substantially older than 6 years old.  The large mask fit me fine too.

If you're not sure which you need, try printing out the B&W template (so you don't waste too much ink).  You can then quickly poke out the eye-holes and check the size on your child.