Try It Tuesday: Paper Mache Monster or Alien Masks

Just when I thought we had finished our Monster Theme for Preschool-at-home and moved on to another theme, my son asks if we can make monster masks. So, I thought we would make it a multiple step project that he can participate in and end up with a mask for both his sister and him to decorate.

To start out we made a paste of white flour and water, just by whisking the two together to the desired consistency.

Then we took strips of torn newspaper and dipped them in the paste and smoothed them over a blown up balloon.

After we covered the balloon with a couple layers, we hung it from a light fixture over our kitchen table to dry. I did put some cardboard under it to catch any drips.

After they were dry, we popped the balloon and took it out. Then using a pair of scissors I cut the cast in half. I let each kid draw on their own features an then I cut them out.

Next I took an elastic headband (got them 6/$1 at the dollar store) and cut it so it made a long elastic piece. Then I stapled it to the mask and covered the inside where the staples were with some tape to keep from getting caught in hair.

Then it was painting time. Both kids got to painting with acrylic paints. My daughters painting plan was to paint her base coat and then to a clear glaze with glitter over the top. My son painted his base coat and then when it was dry I painted on crackle medium and let that dry and then painted silver (his choice) over the top of that so that you mostly see silver buy the purple and green show through the cracks.

You might be able to click on the picture to make it bigger to see the crackle effect. I got out a variety of supplies for the kids to choose from and hot glue on to their masks. I did the gluing but they told me where and they put the pieces on.

Supplies they used were feathers, plastic jewels, sponges (they cut up them up the way they wanted), glitter glue and gift confetti (or whatever that stuff is called.)

My daughter had done a little better job making sure the eyes lined up so she could actually see out of both eyes on her mask. The kids don't actually plan to use them but instead have them hanging in our dining room with other Halloween decorations.