Blank Mask

Hands-on holiday crafts give young children a real reason to listen, follow directions, and use their imagination, and this blank mask worksheet turns a favorite Mardi Gras tradition into an easy classroom activity. Mardi Gras is a bright celebration full of parades, music, beads, and feathers, and the mask is the part children remember. Coloring, cutting, and decorating a mask of their own builds fine motor control and gives every student something that looks exactly the way they pictured it.

This printable gives students one large, ready-to-use mask template with shaped eye openings and two small side holes for string or ribbon. Children color the mask any way they like with crayons, markers, or paint, cut along the bold outline, and then wear it for a parade, a dramatic play center, or a reader’s theater performance. Because every mask comes out different, there is nothing to mark or score: the blank mask worksheet is a single page built for making. Print one for each child, or print a stack and leave them in the art center all season long.

What’s Included

• One printable Mardi Gras mask template sized to fit a child’s face
• Bold, easy-to-follow cutting lines with two shaped eye openings
• Two small side holes for adding yarn, string, or ribbon ties
• A festive beads-and-feathers illustration to spark decorating ideas
• A short, two-sentence direction line written for early readers

There are three good reasons to add this Mardi Gras mask activity to your celebration. First, coloring and cutting one large shape strengthens the hand muscles children need for writing. Second, choosing colors and patterns is genuine decision-making, and a finished mask gives every student something to be proud of. Third, a mask invites talk: children describe what they made, name the colors they chose, and step into a character, which builds vocabulary and confidence in front of a group.

Teachers and parents can stretch the page further. Set out feathers, sequins, glitter, and squares of tissue paper so children can build up texture and pattern. Hold a classroom parade with music and let each child introduce the character behind the mask. Use the finished masks as props for a reader’s theater script, or sort the class masks by color for a quick graphing lesson. At home, tape a craft stick to one side so a younger child can hold the mask up instead of tying it on.

Related Resources

• Three Billy Goats Gruff Reader’s Theater
• Three Little Pigs Reader’s Theater
• Mother’s and Father’s Day Reader’s Theater
• Songs for Kids (MP3 Album)