Jack O' Lantern Mask

No need to purchase expensive masks at the Halloween store! Simplify things by cutting a few corners—literally! Use orange paper plates as the base for these spooky or silly Jack O' Lantern masks. Enlist your child's help in making his own costume by including him in this fun and easy Halloween craft project. Your child's creative energy and fine motor skills will be stimulated as he conjures up a crazy pumpkin face!

What You Need:

• Paper plate
• Orange acrylic paint
• Large paint brush
• Brown crayon
• Pencil
• Green construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Exacto knife
• Two popsicle sticks

What You Do:

1. Use the back of the plate as the front of the mask, as the dip of the plate fits more comfortably around the face.
2. Ask your child to paint the back of the plate orange.
3. While the paint is drying, invite him to draw and cut out a "stalk" out of the green paper.
4. Ask him to draw lines from the top of the plate to the bottom with brown crayon to look like the ridges that are seen on pumpkins.
5. Now for the fun part! Your child needs to think up a scary , or just plain silly, Halloween face. Get him to try out some different versions of faces on a piece of scrap paper. Remind him that the shapes need to be quite simple so that they can be easily cut out. He can then lightly draw the face onto the painted side of the plate. Make sure that the face is centered and that the eyes, nose, and mouth are placed where his own facial features are.
6. Cut out the eyes, nose and mouth for your child, using an exacto knife.
7. Finish off by firmly sticking the popsicle sticks on to the back of the mask, sticking out vertically under the mouth. These will make a handle with which the mask can be held in front of the face.

Variations:

If you want to make a mask that will stay on and does not need to he held, punch holes on either side of the mask and thread through two lengths of cord. This will go around your child’s head.

Masks can either be worn or hung up as decorations. If you want your child’s mask to be used as a decoration, you don’t need to cut out the eyes, nose or mouth, instead color them in with black marker. You do not need to make slits for the popsicle sticks, either, instead, just punch a hole in the top, through which you can string green yarn or ribbon from which to hang it.