Ninja Turtle Masks

For those of you that know me, you would know that I’ve been working at West Seattle Montessori School & Academy for the last couple of years. I work in the Pre-primary classes, playground monitor, after school care, and summer camps. The last couple of days its has been hot outside and so I’ve been trying to find things to do with them outside that’s not super activity based. Since the new Ninja Turtle’s movie is coming out, I though it would be fun to create ninja turtle masks for the kiddos. I actually started individually hand-drawing, cutting, & taping the masks one at a time, per student. Long lines were forming and not many were getting done. It was fun, but it was just not working out.

That’s when I got the idea to put my graphic design abilities together with my experience with the kids to create my own template that the kids can do themselves. I didn’t want to copy the new look from the new movie or make it super basic. I went with more a classic look that is from my days as a kid. I also added some shadowing and detailing to give it that “cool factor”.

I would recommend printing the Ninja Turtle Masks on colored construction paper for best results. It makes sense to print them on the iconic colors of the original teenage mutant ninja turtles: blue for Leonardo, red for Raphael, orange for Michelangelo, and purple for Donatello. But for fun you could use any color the kids would like, they can become their own Ninja Turtle character of their own.

I’ve been trying to find a way to create projects of my own, that combine my love for graphic design and my love for working with the kids. So, hopefully this will be the first of many more design projects like this to come.

Instructions

Follow these steps in putting these Ninja Turtle Masks together.

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  Supplies/Tools needed: Construction paper, scissors, marker to write child/students name, & tape, staples or glue to attach the pieces together.

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  Print PDF template to construction paper.

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  Use the scissors to cut out the pieces.

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  You should end up with the front mask, 2 straight strips wrap around the head, the "knot tie" to attach at the back.

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  Attach the 2 straight strips to the face mask, cut out or "pin poke" out the eye holes

Finished Product

Measure mask to child/student’s head, wrap the 2 strips around to the back and connect with tape or stapler. Then tape or staple the “tie knot” piece to the back of the head, and you’ve got yourself a Ninja Turtle mask. Cowabunga Dudes & Dudettes!

Finished Example, Front View

Finished Example, Back View

This is fun, fan art not affiliated with TMNT, but available as a fun art project for young and old alike. Please enjoy!