Open the Book website resources
Using Animal Masks
A surprising number of Open the Book stories have animals in them! Having a
range of animal masks adds instant “costume” for your adult storytellers and also
makes it easy to involve pupils taking on roles as animals in the story.
Stories which lend themselves to pupil participation as the animals are: the frogs in
Story 9: “The Great Escape”, lions in Story 17 : Daniel and the lions, pigs in Story 26
: The Big Spender and possibly sheep and other nativity animals for Story 1 : The
First Christmas.
Commercial masks
Providers of party goods on the internet (such as www.partybox.co.uk ) or in shops
sell a range of simple foam or rubber animal masks which can be purchased for
around £1. These tend to include common farm animals like cows, sheep, horses
(which can sometimes double as donkeys) and pigs. Search Google for “animal
party masks” and see what you find!
Although commercially produced masks such as these can be very effective, if you
intend children to wear the masks, we recommend you consider making the Head
animal masks (below) rather than the traditional full-face masks. Many children do
not like masks which cover their faces.
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
Head animal masks
Unlike full face masks, these head masks have a ‘hat’ section which fits on top of the
head and is held by elastic under the chin. When a child bends down the face of the
animal faces the audience.
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
Animal mask templates
Lion
Camel
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
Pig
Sheep
Materials for head masks

A4 sheet of light card in the appropriate colour.

Another sheet of A4 card (or use side of an empty cereal box) for the ‘hat’
section.

Thin elastic e.g. shirring elastic.

Glue suitable for paper and card.
Construction
Step A.
 Print off and enlarge the required animal face
template to fit an A4 sheet.
 Copy onto the A4 light card in the appropriate
colour.

Cut round the outline of the animal face.
 Because this mask goes on the head, there is
no cutting out for eyes or mouth.
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
Step B

Print off and enlarge this head-band pattern on a photocopier until the top and
bottom edges fit onto an A4 sheet of paper (The pattern will be 3cms less
than the paper width).
Step C.
 Copy the pattern onto light card or onto the side
of a cereal box of that size.
 Cut out the two pattern pieces along the curves.
Cut out the V-shapes marked on the two edges.
Step D.

Fold each piece
along the dashed line.

Glue the folded plain
mask a couple of
edge to the back of the face
Centimetres from the top.

Glue the folded
notched edge along the
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
side bending round as shown.
Note: you may need to remove an extra 1 –2 cms
from the un-notched edge where the animal face
is narrower e.g. the camel and sheep.
Step E.
 Repeat with the second piece of the head
band, gluing the folded section of the plain side on top
of the first one.

Glue the notched section to the opposite side.
Note: Do NOT glue together the overlapping unnotched edges or the hat will not fold flat. (See Steps
G and H.)
Step F.
 Thread the elastic through the holes indicated on
the head-band pattern. The elastic fits behind the ears
and under the chin to secure the ‘hat’.
Step G.
 To fold for storage, carefully fold in the sides
from the top corners.
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.
Open the Book website resources
Step H.
 Fold down the double top piece. It does not
stay flat without a finger placed on it, but will enable
you to pack several masks together without
damaging the hat piece.
Masks on Sticks !
Children are also happy to stand and hold masks in front of their faces.

Copy the animal face templates onto stiff card, paint or colour if you like, and
attach to dowels with strong packing or duct tape.

This also works well with the purchased foam rubber masks – remove the
head elastic first.

It is also possible to use these templates by drawing or sticking them onto
round paper plates, and using strong plastic straws instead of dowels. This is
particularly effective for a massed effect such as frogs or sheep.
Copyright ©The British and Foreign Bible Society 2014
All our material, including that on our website, is protected by UK and international
copyright laws. This includes, but is not limited to graphics, logos, images, icons, text
and software and is the property of Bible Society. Our resource pages may only be
used for Open the Book assemblies/acts of collective worship. Unauthorised use of
our material is prohibited, including reproduction, storage, modification, distribution
or republication, and may not be used without prior written consent from Bible
Society.