Make Your Own Animal Head

Inspired by my playroom wish list, I decided to try to make my own paper mache animal head. When I was in elementary school I had an amazing art teacher who knew how to recycle trash into art projects. I decided to do the same thing again with a used gift box, tissue paper and seltzer bottles.

I cut up the trash into the desired shapes and started piecing it all together with tape to make the desired animal head shape. Here you can see the underlying structure and the leftover paper/plastic scraps. The base of the head and the ears are cardboard. The trunk, cheeks and the front of the face are plastic seltzer bottles cut up. I rounded out the tip of the trunk with a wad of tissue paper.

I covered the whole thing with several layers of white paper using modge podge to give it a paper mache look and bind everything together. Once it was completely dry I took it outside and spray painted it a silvery gray.

I hung it in the playroom with a white frame around it. The frame was bought years while junktiquing for a dollar and spray painted white. I find the combination quirky and charming - just what I wanted for a fun kid’s space.