Palm Frond MASKS!!!

So this year our first grade classes made masks from palm fronds.  We decided to try these instead of the rain forest animal masks we have done in the past.  The kiddos had a great time and we were smart enough to choose 8 animals to make instead of having everyone create they animal they are researching!  We decided to focus on the Savanna habitat for these masks.  Our students "chose" one of the eight animals and worked in small groups to complete the mask!

If you want to try this project here are a couple of hints that will help you along!
1.  An adult needs to spray paint the palm frond a background color.  We used satin but gloss works too.
2.  Use a sharpie to draw an outline for the eyes and nose.
3.  Have students use acrylic paints.  We used the small cheap bottles from Walmart!
4.  Use one color of paint at a time.  We waited for the paint to dry completely and then added the accent  
     colors.
5.  When completed an adult can spray paint the mask with a high gloss clear paint!
6.  The elephants and giraffes are hard to display!  We drilled little holes in the giraffes and hung them by a string.  The elephant we used slip ties around the trunk and attached them to a pole in our room.

Let us know if you try this!  We would love to see your results!