Beautiful bird masks made from an old egg carton!
Inspired by Minnie's current interest & some fabulous masks created by Picklebums, we dug out some old egg cartons from out recycling box & cut the following 'bird beak' shape from the carton.
Minnie used a pencil (with a blob of modelling clay underneath) to make a couple of holes to enable her to see through the mask, & then she was ready to decorate.
The handy thing about these cardboard egg cartons is that you can use a whole variety of materials with them; colouring pens, crayons, paint, glue, feathers, fabric, glitter, sequins could all be added to create your bird. Great for exploring design, creativity, & imagination! Minnie opted for pens, glitter & feathers to create her bird which she named Beauty! To create her beak she used some gold coloured sticky paper which gave her bird even more sparkle.
This was a popular activity & she made several of these cute little masks.
We attached a paper stick to one side of the mask so Minnie could hold it to her face. I did attach a length of elastic to the back, but she preferred to use the stick. Adding the stick suddenly gave it the feel of a mask you'd see at a masquerade ball. So pretty!
I love the simplicity of this craft, & the fact that something beautiful could be created using upcycled materials & a few coloured pens. Again this has inspired much imaginative play, & storytelling, with Minnie creating different characteristics for Beauty bird. She's even written a story all about her adventures! ♥
If you wanted to do a follow up to this activity you could get the children to think about what the body of their bird may look like (colour size, texture), or how their birds might move, their habitat, food etc.
The story Minnie created involved Beauty's family, a hotel, & their house on the top of a mountain! I wonder where these little bird masks will take you.