Full Entertainment

It’s a Saturday, the schools are closed and your kids are home and overflowing with youthful energy. On a normal warm and sunny day your kids would be outside riding their bikes and playing with their friends, but how do you keep them entertained when it’s raining and miserable outside? There are several wonderful and fun activities for young kids to do on rainy days, and this guide is about one of my favorites: making funny masks.

Making funny masks is an enjoyable and engaging task for young kids, allowing them to practice and express their creativity. And when the masks are completed, there are endless hours of imaginary adventures to be had!

Begin by gathering all the materials needed by the kids to make their funny masks. Some great materials to collect are assorted crayons or colored markers, glitter, glue, colored pipe cleaners or confetti, some craft feathers and small buttons or pieces of candy (which are great for snacking on too!). You will also need the objects to serve as blank masks, for which paper plates work great.

Once you have collected all the materials, set them out somewhere all the kids can easily get to them such as a table or on the floor. With the very young kids, help them with tasks that require using scissors (such as when cutting out eye holes to see through). To affix the mask you can use long and thin slips of paper to serve as a band wrapping around the back of your child’s head. Another option would be to glue or tape clean Popsicle sticks to the bottom of the masks so they can be easily held up to the face.

After you’ve helped your kids get started, allow them to design their masks however they’d like. This type of activity can easily lead to a messy workplace, so cover your table or floor with a plastic sheet to contain the mess.

You can make Mardi Gras masks, Halloween masks, skulls, ghosts or even the American-Indian dance masks. You can just go wild with your creativity, just throw paint or glue on the mask and then stick anything from bits of colored paper to old photos or whatever you can lay your hands on. They are all fun to make and more fun to play with.

If necessary, inspire your kids with ideas of funny masks they can create, and consider creating a mask of your own – they’ll enjoy the company as much as you will!

Hugh Quentin is a webmaster for his drawing and sketching website http://www.drawing-pencil-sketches.com who provides tips and guidance to anyone wanting to learn how to draw using a pencil, charcoal, or pen and ink. Find examples of how to draw animals, people, angels, gothic art, landscapes, and more.