When looking for activities to teach children about their feelings, how to identify and express them, I have struggled to find something that is not only meaningful but fun as well! Here is an exercise I have pieced together from experience and imagination that may be helpful. The children who participated in the sample were in fifth grade, though I'd guess that those as young as second or third grade, depending on the ability to understand or at least identify more complex emotions (and the mess factor involved in the activity itself), might be appropriate as well. Older children, teens and adults would likely enjoy this exercise - I'd like to see an adolescent or adult anger management group try this one.
The premise for this activity is that when we appear angry or say we are angry, most often there are many different feelings behind that anger; loneliness, jealousy, frustration, and sadness, for example. The mask is a metaphor for this. The outside of the mask represents what we show to others, the inside shows what may be underlying what is shown to others, what is "behind the mask". To prepare for this activity, I had students draw a picture of what their anger looks like (the outside of the mask) and had students list at least 5 feelings that they have that might underlie their anger (use more or less depending on the target group) on the reverse side of the paper. This makes things go more quickly once the painting begins as well.
**Plan on completing this activity over several days or sessions to allow for dry time for the paper mache and paint. Give about an hour for the first and last sessions and ten to fifteen minutes for each session in between (when applying layers).**
Materials Needed:
- Plastic Masks - Full Face - One for each participant. These are available at any craft store. You could forgo the paper mache and just use the plastic masks, but that wouldn't be as much fun!
- Plastic Wrap - to protect the plastic masks so you can use them again
- Newspaper - Ripped into thin strips plus some to use to protect the surface you're working on
- Copier Paper - Ripped into thin strips
- Flour
- Water
- Ice Cream Bucket (or other large container)
- Acrylic or Poster Paints
- Paint Pens (optional but they are super handy when writing the words inside the mask and for detailing on the outside of the mask
Day/Session 1
Protect your work surface (plastic garbage bags work well, though newspapers will do fine) and prepare the mask by wrapping plastic wrap around and securing it in the back
Prepare the paper mache mix. (I used the "Raw Flour and Water Paste" recipe from the
Ultimate Paper Mache website). Basically, you put some flour in the bucket and then add a little water at a time and mix until you get the consistency that you'd like. The site says that the consistency is up to you. We made ours similar to the consistency of pancake batter (maybe a little runnier). I found that using a whisk helped to keep the lumps down and seemed to make it blend quicker than when I tried mixing it with a spoon.
If you haven't already done so, rip newspaper into strips about 1.5" wide or less (the photograph shows some strips wider than that but the masks took longer to dry).
Dip part of the strip into the paper mache "batter" and use your fingers to pull the paste down the length of the strip (getting rid of extra paste). I found that dipping part of the strip worked better as dipping the entire strip ended up leaving a lot of paste on the paper and that isn't wanted (the less paste, the less time it takes to dry).
Beginning at the top of the mask form, add the pasted paper strips in a horizontal pattern, overlapping slightly the strip next to it. Make sure that you've got the entire form covered. A tip - when you are finished applying the layers, take a piece of newspaper and gently wipe the excess paste off the mask, this also helps the mask to dry faster and makes the mask less bumpy to paint.
Let that layer dry. You have a few options here. You could let the mask dry overnight. You could point a fan at it, rotating it every 20 minutes or so, until dry. Or, you could dry the masks in the oven using the very lowest setting. Make sure not to forget about them! It's very important that each layer of paper mache is dried thoroughly before adding the next layer otherwise the masks will rot and they would be spoiled.
If you're going to be working on the masks again that day, you can put the paste in the refrigerator in between. Take it out and give it a chance to warm to room temperature before using again. I found, while experimenting with this activity, that the flour paste goes bad in a few hours (stinky!) so I'd do the refrigerator thing or mix new batter when you start working on the masks again.
Day Two/Session Two
Mix a new batch of paper mache paste (or remove the paste you have made from the refrigerator). Using the same dipping technique as the last session (dip the strip in the paste and pull down with your fingers on either side of the strip), apply newspaper strips vertically over the dried strips. Allow to dry.
Day Three/Session Three
Repeat the application, this time horizontally again. Allow to dry.
Day Four/Session Four
Apply
strips of pasted copier paper vertically over the last layer. This is the base on which the participants will paint their faces.
Day Five/Session Five
Have each participant paint the outside of their mask to show what they look like when they are angry. When that dries, have them paint the inside of the mask a solid color. You could skip this step and just have them write/paint their feelings words directly on the newspaper but I think people will be more pleased with how things turn out if the inside is painted first.
Final Session
Have each participant write feelings that might underlie their anger on the inside of the mask using paint or a paint pen. Share and discuss. You may ask the participant to tell why they painted the outside of their mask the way they did (in the photos shown here, one student painted their mask with tears because they felt that best described what they looked like when they were angry, another painted steam coming out of his nostrils), what feelings words were underlying the anger, to give specific examples of when they feel those feelings, etc.
You can vary the activity based on the age or ability level of the group, the topic or emotion of focus. Instead of focusing on feelings underlying anger, the inside of the mask could give situations contributing to feelings of anger. This could be an activity for a grief group with the front of the mask showing how they feel when they think of the person they lost and the inside of the mask showing what they'll miss about them or special memories. The possibilities are virtually endless.
Feel free to add your suggestions below!
.jpg)
