Kid Territory: Crafts: Wolf Mask
Above you can see all the pieces you will need, and how to cut the paper plates. Below is the finished mask.
At the San Diego Zoo there is a place called Wegeforth Bowl, named after the Zoo's founder, Dr. Harry Wegeforth. For years it has been one of the show areas where you can watch animals performing natural behaviors (not tricks!) when the trainers ask them to. It is done in such a fun way that you never realize how much you are learning about these magnificent animals.
The stars of the show at any given time could be sea lions, many different species of birds, or a wolf named Akela and his best friend Nala, a golden retriever. WHAT? A wolf and a golden retriever? Why not? Whether dogs are wild or domestic, they are social animals that need companions. Wolves tend to be timid around humans, but domestic dogs are generally raised to accept the company of people. By giving Akela the companion he needs and seeing how friendly Nala is to people, Akela soon learns we are okay too!
Let's make a wolf mask in honor of Akela.
What you need
2 dinner size paper plates
String
Scissors
Hole punch
Glue
One 9-oz. paper cup
Black crayon
Yellow and gray art foam
Fishing line
Black marker
What you do
1. Peel the paper off of the black crayon. Using the side of the crayon, color the bottom of one plate and the top of the other.
2. Hold the bottom-colored paper plate to your face and have an adult draw with the marker where your eyes should be. Then cut two eye holes for you to look through.
3. On that same plate cut scalloped edges around the bottom half of the plate. (See photo.)
4. For your mouth, cut a 2 1/2-inch rectangle shape out from the bottom of the plate. (See photo.)
5. Print
and cut out the patterns from the link below. Make
sure you print the pattern the right size to fit your plate.
It should fill an 8.5 by 11-inch sheet of paper like you see
in the illustration.
If it is printing either too large
or too small, make sure the print settings in your Netscape
or Explorer do not 
tell
it to enlarge, reduce or scale to the size of the paper.
The
wolf mask pattern is stored in PDF Format which can be read
and printed with the free Adobe
Acrobat Reader plug-in.
Open the wolf mask pattern PDF
6. Trace the ear and teeth patterns on the center of the other colored plate, then cut them out.
7. Glue the top rim of the cup right above the rectangle for the wolf's muzzle. Glue the teeth to the cup and glue the ears to the top of the plate.
8. Cut two pieces of the yellow foam in the shape of an eye, or use the pattern to trace your eye shape first. Cut a hole in the middle of each eye and use the marker to draw black dots over it for the pupils. Glue these eyes to match the eyes you already cut out on the plate.
9. For the whiskers, cut several six-inch-long pieces of fishing line and tape them together in the middle. Glue these whiskers to the bottom of the cup, which is now the tip of the wolf's nose.
10. The gray art foam should be cut to resemble a wolf's nose pad (you can use the pattern to trace the shape first if you like), then glued on the bottom of the cup, over the whiskers.
11. Make a hole punch on each side of the plate at the middle. Thread a piece of string through each hole long enough to be tied around your head.
You have now become the "leader of the pack!" Come see Akela and Nala during a show at Wegeforth Bowl on your next visit to the Zoo!
More
Animal Profiles: The
Cheetah & the Golden Retriever
Animal Bytes:
Wolf, Sea
Lion
Job Profiles: Taking
Care of Animals
San Diego Zoo:
Animal Shows
Animal-themed Crafts: Wolf
Desktop Organizer, Bat Mask, Cat Mask
