Paper Bag Masks

I don't know about where you live, but it's been cold and wet here. J brought home some paper bags not that long ago that he thought the kids could make masks out of. It was snowy at the time that we did this activity, but it occurred to me that's also perfect for rainy indoor fun year round.

You've probably seen this craft before, or maybe remember it from your childhood. It's not the latest thing, but it was new to the kids and they had a blast!

We decorated brown grocery store bags with paint (and some stick on circles that we had on hand) and cut out spaces for the eyes and shoulders. It's a little bit messy if you decide to use paint, but it really couldn't be any simpler.

My over achieving seven year old wowed us when he decided to cut the circles I gave him for eyes and turn them into ears for his tiger creation. 

The other two kids were a little more uh... eccentric with their techniques. 

In fact they were so heavy handed with the paint we ended up blowing drying the bags so that they could wear them that night.

Z eventually finished up (both front and back) using a mixed media approach.

When I posted these on Facebook I had someone ask where we found plain paper bags. Of course you can get paper bags anywhere, but they often have print on both sides. In this case we went to Meijer (a midwestern grocery store). I'm sure you can find them other places too though if you are on the look out. 

You can see the snow on the porch!

Next time we do this project I will definitely be more strategic with where I put the eye holes. The poor things were peaking out of one side the whole time.

Z's turned out so great. He did it all on his own too. 

The cool thing is it isn't just one time use. The bags fold up for easy storage and then you can pull them out for endless fun whenever you want! 

Hooray for paper bags!