Fun Littles

Fun and easy kids activities

Animal Face Masks

Sep 28, 201214,752 views
Crafts
Ages2–6 yrs
Prep25 min
Activity30 min
Leveleasy
MessLow
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Draw or print animal faces on construction paper, cut them out with eye holes, and let kids color and decorate them. Add an elastic string or a craft-stick handle, then play pretend with animal sounds and silly peek-a-boo.

⚠️ Safety first

  • Adult does the cutting and hole punching; scissors and hole punch are for grown-ups.
  • Elastic string around a child's head can be a strangulation hazard. For babies and toddlers, use a craft-stick handle instead and supervise mask play at all times.
  • Make sure the eye holes are large enough for kids to see clearly while moving around, especially during gross-motor animal play.

Before the kids arrive

  • Draw or print animal faces onto construction paper.
  • Cut along the outlines and cut or punch out the eye holes.

Steps

  1. Draw or print an animal face on a sheet of construction paper.

  2. Adult: cut along the outline and cut out the eye holes.

  3. Color and decorate the mask with markers, crayons and decorations.

  4. Adult: punch a hole on each side of the mask.

  5. Put a small piece of duct tape along the edges of each side hole so the paper doesn't rip.

  6. Tie on an elastic string, or attach a craft stick to the back so it's easy to hold.

  7. Put on the masks and play. Make the animal's sound and move like that animal.

Tips

  • Construction paper can easily tear, so a little duct tape around the punch holes keeps the masks from ripping off the string.from the author
  • Let the older kids pick the animals. Big S chose animals so she could teach the baby different animals and their sounds: Dog says woof-woof, Cat says meow, Lions say roaaar!from the author
  • Babies love it too. Our 10-month-old loves peek-a-boo and mimicking sounds, and the masks kept the giggles coming.from the author
  • It doesn't last very long, but I'll take whatever few minutes I get :-)from the author

Make it your own

  • Make Halloween face masks, cartoon characters or your kids' favorite characters.
  • Use it as a birthday party activity: the kids make their own face masks.
  • Do gross motor play by pretending to be different animals.
  • Start a role play or storytelling session with a forest or farm theme based on the animals.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · September 2012
Make your own animal face mask
Here's another easy animal craft idea to keep your baby and preschooler busy and happy! As simple as these face masks are, it's hours of silly play and laughter all the way.
1 / 7

Animal Face Masks: the original post

Here’s another easy animal craft idea to keep your baby and preschooler busy and happy ! With all the structured activities and schedules around us, we tend to overlook on “Fun Stuff & Having Fun” ! According to the experts, “play” is the chief vehicle for the development of imagination and intelligence, language, social skills, and perceptual-motor abilities in infants and young children”. This play time was all about being “Silly & Having fun ” My 10 month old loves to play peek-a-boo and Big S uses everything she finds to keep the giggles coming . To keep them both happy and busy and giggling we decided to make face masks. As simple as they are, it’s hours of silly play and laughter all the way.

Big S wanted to do animals because she is trying to teach the baby different animals and their sounds. Dog says- woof-woof, Cat says – Meow, Lions- Roaaar ! Neat isn’t it?

Lil’ S loves to mimic sounds and it’s so much fun when the girls are so behaved and are having a good time playing.

It doesn’t last very long , but I’ll take whatever few minutes I get :-)

Things we used:

Step 1:

Draw or print out animals on construction paper

Step 2:

Cut along the outline and punch out the eyes.

Step 3:

Let the little helpers help add colors and decorations.

Step 4:

Punch out on either side and tie a rubber string OR attach a craft stick at the back so its easy to hold.

Step 5:

Since construction paper can easily tear, you can attach a small piece of duct tape along the edges of the punch hole on the sides so they don’t rip or tear off from the string.

Let the play begin.

It’s so simple, yet very versatile.

Here are more ways to transform your play:

  • Halloween face masks, cartoon characters, or your kids’ favorite characters.
  • Birthday party theme with these. Get the kids to make their own face masks , what’s better than that?
  • Gross motor play by pretending to different animals
  • Start a role play/story telling session with a forest theme or a farm theme based on the animals

Always remember to have a little fun and teach your tots “having fun is what it’s all about”

Thanks for reading

Happy Sharing

Please take a moment to comment


Hello Visitor, Thanks for stopping by our little space here. We encourage you to stick around and take a look at couple of our popular posts.



What readers say

💬 2 comments

🎉 Worked for us

Cute masks and a sweet sibling moment

A reader loved how the masks turned out and how excited the older sister was to teach the baby.

“These turned out really cute and it's so sweet that your older daughter is so excited to teach her little sister.”
Mud Hut Mama, Oct 2012

Tried it?

Reviewed before it appears. No links, and please no children's names.

Read all 2 comments
  1. Mud Hut Mama · Oct 2012

    These turned out really cute and it's so sweet that your older daughter is so excited to teach her little sister.

Similar activities

🛒 Materials