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You are here: Home / Create / Crafts for Kids / Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Hats

March 26, 2014 By Chelsey

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Hats

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One of our favorite spring crafts for kids is making giant paper mache hats! The kids have so much fun creating their own hats from butcher paper and wearing them around all spring!

Follow our Spring Crafts & Learning Pinterest board!

 

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Spring Hat~ Buggy and Buddy

I thought it would be fun to welcome spring with one of my favorite spring crafts for kids~ giant paper spring hats! This has been a favorite art project over the years to do with my students, and now I’m enjoying doing it at home with my kids. (This post contains affiliate links. )

 

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Hats

In the past I’ve done these hats many different ways. This project really lends itself to so many creative options. For this particular project, I’m using giant sheets of butcher paper as the main component to the hat. However, I have done it over the years with giant sheets of wrapping paper or sheets of newspaper (later painted when dry). They all work wonderfully!

 

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Spring Hat

Materials for Spring Hats

  • Giant sheet of butcher paper (or wrapping paper)
  • Bowl and paintbrush
  • Liquid glue and water
  • Masking tape
  • Newspaper for stuffing
  • Tissue paper or other materials to decorate your hat

Directions for Making Spring Hats

1. Cut your butcher paper into a large circle.

2. Prepare your paper mache mixture of glue and water. (I used about a 1:1 ratio.)

 

cut out large circle from butcher paper

 

3. Paint the top of your large circle with the mixture.

 

cover circle with paper mache mixture

 

4. Now it’s time to shape the hat to your child’s head. First, place a DRY sheet of newspaper on top of your child’s head (to protect him or her from getting covered with gluey water.) Then place the wet butcher paper circle on top of the dry newspaper. Gently press the paper around his/her head and wrap a few times with masking tape to hold in place. (The kids always think this part is super fun!)

 

shaping the spring hat craft for kids

 

shaping the spring hat craft for kids

 

5. Gently take the hat off, and place it somewhere to dry. I take the newspaper and crumple it up into a ball and stuff it inside the head area to help it keep its shape while drying. Also be sure to play around with the outer part of the hat and get it shaped just the way you want it to dry.

 

drying paper mache hats

 

6. Once the hat is dry it’s time to decorate it! Gently pull off the masking tape. Once your hat is dry the tape is no longer necessary to hold the hat’s shape.

7. Decorate your hat any way you want! We did one with tissue paper squares.

 

decorate spring hat crafts

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers

We decorated the other hat with tissue paper flowers!

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Spring Hat

 

Cut out two circles from tissue paper.

 

2 circles

 

Place a small dot of glue in the center of circle.

 

2 circles with glue

 

Glue the circles together.

 

paper flower

Fold and press the paper together until you like how your flower looks! (It’s really fun to play around with different sizes and colors of circles.)

IMG_0100

Tips

  • After the hat dries you can add another layer of paper mache and let dry before decorating. This will make it even more sturdy.
  • I leave the stuffed newspaper inside while the kids are decorating the hat. This helps protect it from accidental crushing.
  • If you are doing this as a class project, it would probably work best doing it small group. I used to always do it in small groups, and it was even better when I had parent volunteers to assist!

Happy Spring!

 

Spring Crafts for Kids: Paper Mache Spring Hat~ Buggy and Buddy


 

Find all kinds of fun activities in our ebook!

Learn more about it here, or buy it now here!

Fizz, Pop, Bang! 40 Playful Science and Math Activities for Kids

Filed Under: Crafts for Kids, Easter, Elementary, Spring Tagged With: crafts, hats, paper mache, spring

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Welcome to Buggy and Buddy! I'm Chelsey, a former teacher and parent living on the central coast of California. I love sharing crafts, science, STEM and STEAM activities, free printables and more! Read More…

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