Activities For Kids Easy crafts and printables for kids, preschool and older. You'll also find Birthday Party themes, Holiday crafts, Kids recipes and Classroom prtables.
With Mardi Gras coming up next week, I decided to see how many items fromt he Dollar Tree that I could use to create a colorful, festive mask. Using the larger sized printable mask template and fun foam in green, yellow and purple, I’ve decorated six masks using fourteen different crafty items from the Dollar Tree. Below are the basic instructions for what I did, but this is a craft that the kids can be creative with and decorate a unique Mardi Gras mask for themselves. Any other ideas you would like to share? Post your comments below. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Supplies
- Printable mask template
- Crafter square foam sheets
- Scissors
- Ribbon or elastic
- Hole punch – optional
- Glue gun – optional
- Duct tape
- Glue pen
Other Dollar Store items that are great for making a creative mask:
Pipe cleaners, Metallic ribbon, Yarn, Glitter Glue Tubes, Mardi Gras beads, Sequins, Feathers, Reflector tape Foil stars, Silk Flowers, Chenille Stems, Foil and decorated cupcake liners.
The Basic Mask
- Start by selecting the Printable mask template. There are two masks on the page, so for these examples, I used the larger mask.
- Next, cut the mask pattern out and trace on to the craft foam. Then cut the craft foam mask out.
- Punch small holes where indicated on the sides of the mask to attach a ribbon or elastic to hold the mask in place. Another option would be to use a sturdy plastic straw for a handheld mask.
Instructions for How to Decorate a Mardi Gras Mask
Green mask with stars: Using the hole punch for 3 holes at the top, above each eye. Loop about 6″ of folded metallic ribbon through each of the holes. Attach one bead from a short strand of Mardi Gras beads into the holes on the ends.
Yellow mask with butterflies: Flower and butterfly sequins decorate this mask. One purple chenille stem was folded for the center crown effect – fold into the desired shape and secure the ends with duct tape on the inside of the mask.
Green mask with red flowers: This is my favorite mask – so much easier than working with feathers. Take apart a silk flower, a gerbera daisy works well. Cut a section apart and use a glue gun to affix the flower to the back of the mask. Use dots of puff paint and outline the top of the mask with glitter glue.
Green mask with cupcake liners: Cut apart sections of colorful and metallic cupcake liners to decorate this mask. A regular glue pen should hold the liners to the mask. Outline the bottom with matching sequins.
Yellow mask with green yarn: A glue gun was used to attach the yarn around the eye portion of the mask. Take about a 10″ section of yarn and make three loops, attach this to a small section of duct tape and attach to the back of the mask. Gold reflector tape was attached to edges of the mask then trimmed to the shape of the mask.
A Few Other Options:
Purple mask with feathers: Puff paint and diamond shapes of craft foam were used along with matching feathers.
Purple mask with craft foam triangles: Great way to use up scraps of the foam. For a little extra piazza, take two frilly party picks and cut off the ends so that there is only about 1″ of the wooden pick. Use duct tape to attach the party picks to the back of the mask.
