Bird Masks at Totem Bight

What better place to make a bird mask than the totem capital of Totem Bight Park? This is one of our favorite parks in Ketchikan, and usually our first tour stop when visitors come to town. In less than a mile you can see rainforest, ocean and totem poles. The view is gorgeous, the walk is easy, the totem poles are awesome...and if you're super lucky you might see a whale or two.

But today we weren't looking for whales...we were looking for birds. We're heading towards the end of the month-long Hummingbird Festival, and this was our last stop. The State Park was hosting a Breakfast with the Birds. This included a walking bird watching tour through the park, a pancake and sausage breakfast and a kids craft.

The kid craft came courtesy of Pinterest...shocker. I didn't know what to bring for an easy bird-themed craft...so I typed "bird craft" into the Pinterest search bar, and up popped Martha Stewart's paper mache bird masks. Now, I certainly wasn't about to do paper mache for this...but why not convert her more complicated project into one where I can use paper plates, construction paper and a glue stick?

The morning was gray and rainy---but don't feel too bad for us, that's just a normal day in Ketchikan---so despite the weather we had a good turn out. Everyone saw birds, got some good food and those that brought their kiddos made a mask. There were chickens, red robins, peacocks and so much more.

The project doesn't really need explanation, but just in case, I just cut the paper plates in half and cut out a slot for the nose. Then I used a hole punch to make the opening for the elastic band and also to make holes where the eyes would go (then I used scissors to open them up). Tie on the elastic, and then you're ready to decorate. There is no template to follow, the size of the beak depends on what you want, and the same goes with the feathers. The older your kids the more able they are to cut out their own pieces and decorate to their taste. But really, no matter how they decorate them they come out SO cute.