*Adult supervision required. Let an adult handle the scissors.
You’ll need
* 1 coloured cardboard plate
* Pieces of construction paper in different colours (including yellow)
* Scissors
* Pencil and ruler
* Large-hole punch (for the eyes), or craft precision knife
* Small-hole punch (optional)
* School glue
* 1 paper straw, or enough string to fasten the mask to your head
Instructions
Cut the cardboard plate in half. This forms the main part of the mask.
Tip: If you don’t have a coloured paper plate, you can paint it yourself.
With the round part of the half-paper plate facing away from you, mark where the two eyes should be with a pencil. You can hold it up to your face to estimate where that should be.
Using a large-hole punch or a craft precision knife, cut out holes for the eyes. Make sure they are big enough that you can see through them easily.
To make the feathers, take small pieces of coloured construction paper and fold them in half, sharply. Along the fold line, cut a long, round shape. When the paper is unfolded, this will give a long leaf-shape. Make eight feathers, in two or three different colours.
Make small slits to the edges of the feathers, at an angle.
To make the beak, start with a 2.5 inch square or orange construction paper. Draw a line down the middle using a pencil and ruler. Fold the paper sharply along this line. Now, make a dot with your pencil, about ¾ inches from the bottom of the paper.
Draw a line between this dot and the very top of the paper, where it’s folded, and between the dot and the very bottom of the paper, where it’s folded. Cut both these lines.
Using the large-hole punch, make two holes (the same size used for the eyes) into yellow paper. Cut teardrop shapes around them. If you want these to be perfectly even, you can cut the two pieces at the same time.
To make the mask extra festive, you can make confetti by using a small-hole punch to cut little circles of paper, or cut very small triangles from your construction paper.
Now to put it all together: Have the half paper-plate in front of you, with the round part facing away. First glue the teardrop-shaped yellow paper around the eye-holes. The tips should be facing upwards and outwards. Then, glue the beak into place right between the two eyes, and right at the bottom’s edge.
Now glue the edge of one feather to the top-centre of the “forehead” to start the head-piece. Glue two more feathers on either side of this one. Let dry for a few minutes, then place the remaining five feathers in another layer, slightly covering the first layer of feathers.
Place the confetti on different parts of the mask like the forehead, cheekbones or feathers. It looks nice if they are not touching, and are grouped with two or three.
Last, decide how you want to wear the mask. You can either glue a paper straw to one side so that you can hold the mask in front of your face with your hand, or you can make two more holes using a small-hole punch, and connect them with string, so that the string fits behind the head.
Photo: Simple Craft Idea/Madame Citron
