ROAR!! Are your kids wildlife fans? Children will love making and wearing these adorable Handprint and Paper Plate Lion Masks. These easy to make animal masks are super fun for the dressing up box and a great way to inspire dramatic play and story telling.
These Handprint and Paper Plate Lion masks are my contribution to a fun Collective Nouns blog hop organised by friend Anthea from Blue Bear Wood. New collective noun animal crafts will be posted by bloggers throughout March. Yesterday Play and Learn Every Day shared a Colony of Rabbits Craft and next Clare’s Little Tots will be sharing a fun idea for a Sloth of Bears.
I think we’ve all heard of a Pride of Lions but did you know that lions are the only cats to live in large groups and they are sometimes more rarely referred to as a Sault of Lions or a Troop of Lions too?
A pride of lions is generally made up of a large group of females that are all related and just a few males, with one being dominant. The term “pride” is likely to have come about from their high ranking in the food chain and the male lion’s impressive crown of mane hair.
Animal masks are a super way to promote imaginative play so before you get started on our Paper Plate Lion Mask Tutorial why not save some other paper plate mask crafts to your Pinterest or Facebook to try later too?
Readers have loved our Paper Plate Bunny Mask, perfect for Easter, our Long Tongued Frog Mask great for Spring and our Paper Plate Pig Mask for snuffly muddy fun!
Handprint and Paper Plate Lion Masks Tutorial
I can never resist a handprint craft can you? They always make such lovely keepsakes and are a great way for kids to get literally “hands-on” with paint.
I love that this handprint and paper plate lion mask craft can be easily used to make both male and female lions. To make a lioness you simply leave off the handprint mane!
Supplies To Make Paper Plate Lion Masks
- Paper Plates US / UK
- Card
- Yellow Acrylic Paint US / UK
- Yellow Bendy Straws US / UK
- Sticky Tape
- Glue
- Elastic
How To Make Handprint and Paper Plate Lion Masks
Start making your lion mask by drawing out the shape you can see in the photo above onto the back of your paper plate.
Cut out the shape carefully and retain it to make your lion mask ears.
Paint the front of both pieces of paper plate whatever colour you want your lion. Yellow, orange or brown work really well.
Add on some brown detail for the nose and ears.
On card (not paper as it’s too floppy) print out lots of handprints to make the lion’s mane. You can use all one colour paint or a mixture.
To make your lion mask’s whiskers take three yellow straws and tape them together in a row on the short side just below the bendy section.
Fan out the straw lengths and trim both ends to a whisker size.
Repeat to make a set of whiskers for both sides of your lion mask.
Tape your straw whiskers onto the back of your lion mask’s nose.
If you want to you can add some extra details like nostrils onto the front of your lion’s nose with a marker pen.
Snip off the excess card from your lion’s ears and glue them into place. This makes a fantastic lioness mask.
If you want to make a male lion mask simply cut out your handprints and glue them all around the paper plate. You can use one colour or a mix like the photo below.
Children can play with their paper plate lion mask by holding it in front of their face or you could make a hole in either side and tie on a section of elastic.
Why not become a pride of lions by making a handprint and paper plate lion mask for every member of the family?
More Fun Spring Crafts For Kids:
