Paper-Bag Helmets

Materials:

• Paper bags
• art supplies
• recycled materials

A helmet can be the defining part of a dress-up or role-playing costume. Here's how your child can make quick and imaginative ones from paper bags.

To begin, gather up a variety of paper bags, as well as markers, scissors, scraps of cloth and paper, cardboard tubes, and other decorative add-ons. Prepare each bag for your child to decorate by folding the top down three or four times to form a one-inch rim. Then cut out part of the bag to expose some or all of your child's facial features: You can make eye or nose holes, a single "viewing band," or an opening for the entire face.

When the cutting is done, have your child use markers to transform it into a particular type of helmet (football, space, motorcycle, whatever). Suggest gluing cardboard tubes on the sides for lights or space thrusters and making similar use of other recycled materials. Your child can even cover the helmet with scraps of fabric to turn it into a bird headdress.

If your child uses his or her noggin, there's no limit to the kinds of helmets that will come out of your headgear factory.

More on: Arts & Crafts Activities for Kids: Project Ideas

Excerpted from:

© 2005 by Steve and Ruth Bennett. Excerpted from 365 Unplugged Family Fun Activities with permission of its publisher, Perseus Books Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

To order this book visit perseusbooksgroup.com.