Animal African Inspired mask.

2^nd grade students made animal mask this week. They looked at images of African mask that used animals. We talked about the reasons why different people in Africa used mask in various ceremonies or celebrations. We also looked at a map of Africa, so students could realize how large Africa is. I pointed out mask of different countries. The objective was that when animals were represented in mask it was because the maker want to represent the quality or spirit of that animal. I had students choose an animal for their animal masked based on their perceived characteristic of that animal. For example, a student choose a jaguar because it was fast or a unicorn because it was magical and rare. Yeah, and I was not about to tell a kid unicorns aren’t real.

This lesson was a challenge and took a lot of small group time. Some students had a harder time figuring out how to cut the negative space shapes without destroying their work. If I did this lesson again. I would tell all students to just put a long rectangle for the eyes as the first step. It solved so many problems when I just had them do this right away.