Build A Bird Mask

Grade Level:
Elementary

Subject Areas:
Reading, Visual Arts

Setting:
Classroom

Skills:
Observation

Prior Preparation: Purchase
one Halloween plastic eye
mask for each student in the
class. Review the layers of a
rainforest and discuss with
students the habitat of
rainforest birds. An
age-appropriate excellent
rainforest bird resource is
"Parrots, Tropical and
Rainforest Birds", A Nature
Watch book by Tom Jackson.
This book has colorful
pictures depicting rainforest
birds.

Vocabulary:
none

South Dakota Education
Standards for 4th grade:
Reading
4.R.1.1; 4.R.1.2
Visual Arts
Standard 1; Standard 3

Objective: Students will design and make a rainforest bird mask.

Materials: 1 basic Halloween plastic eye mask per student, scissors, 1 foamie sheet, glue,
multicolored tissue paper, assorted, brightly colored feathers

Background: Many different rainforest cultures create bird masks for special ceremonies and
use feathers to adorn themselves. The Highland tribes of the Pacific island of New Guinea
decorate with birds of paradise feathers. Chiefs of the ancient Hawaiian Islands wore helmets
decorated with red, black, and yellow feathers. The red feathers came from the 'I'iwi bird.
Along with the yellow feathers, they signified nobility. New Zealand Moari chiefs also
decorated themselves with feathers. They wore white-tipped black feathers from the Huia
bird. Natives of India, Borneo, and the Philippines incorporated the white, black and grey
feathers of hornbills, relatives of the toucan, into their headdresses. South American Aztecs
chose to decorate themselves with brilliant hummingbird feathers. Not all these birds were
killed for their feathers. Often the feathers were gathered from molting birds as they shed
their feathers each year.

Procedure:
Cut the triangular shape of a beak from the foamie sheet. Use the glue to adhere the beak to
the nose of the mask. Let the mask dry thoroughly before proceeding.

Tear small pieces of tissue paper to use for the mask. Decide which colors you want to use in
the design. Review some rainforest bird pictures for design ideas.

Spread the glue on the mask with your finger in a nice smooth layer.

Start placing pieces of tissue paper on the mask. Let it dry.

Turn the mask over and place a line of glue all around the top rim where you will add the
feathers.

Place the base of the feathers in the glue on the mask. Hold them in place for a minute to
make sure the glue holds the feathers.

Add any additional feathers to the front of the mask to finish it off. When it's completely dry,
try it on and look in a mirror. What's the first thing that pops into your head when you first see
the mask? Can you make up a name for your bird?

Extensions:
Decorate your classroom as a rainforest. Make other rainforest creatures from patterns
obtained on the internet and from the Teacher's Resource Room. Hold a reader's theater in
your rainforest that the students write from the researched information they've learned about
the creatures they've made.

Have each student bring one ingredient to make GORP. Then hold a rainforest GORP sale and
sell bags to the other students. With the money raised by the sales, adopt a primate or lemur
from the Duke University Primate Center. Go on-line as a class for information:
www.duke.edu/web/primate.

This activity was adapted from, "Rainforests: An Activity for Ages 6-9" by Nancy F. Castaldo