Ancient Greek Theatre Mask – Easy Hands-on History

Our Ancient Greece unit study had a huge stop/start gap because we packed and moved back from South America, but we are winding it down finally.

Before we do though, we added one more fun easy hands-on history activity, which is an Ancient Greek theatre mask.

Hands-on Ancient Greek Drama

Tiny looked through the book TOOLS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece (Build It Yourself), which has been a huge help in finding activities for middle and high school kids and not so babyish.

Too, it was a good time to time talk about Ancient Greece drama.

Quoting from the book, TOOLS OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Life in Ancient Greece (Build It Yourself), “Drama included performances of tragedies, which often told stories of the mythical past, and comedies, in which performers poked fun at politicians, famous people, and even the gods.”

Tiny decided to make an easy Ancient Greek mask focusing on comedy.

So we gathered up what we had at home. Look at this list of things to gather.

• pencil
• cardboard or paper plates
• paints, chalk pastels, sharpies
• scissors
• DAS Air Hardening Modeling Clay
• your choice of yarn or paper to curl for hair and/or sequins or whatever you have around the house to decorate your mask
• the red tie ribbon came off a used gift bag

Tiny started by drawing an oval on the cardboard to give the mask a shape to work with.

Then he started flattening the clay and using the clay to mold the face. The clay dries pretty quick, which is one reason he loves this clay.

Too, you could paint it or use a sharpie or even use chalk pastels. If you decide to use paper plates, then one suggestion in the book said to glue the paper plates back to back. Then, make one side comedy and the other side tragedy.

After Tiny finished the face, he added chalk pastels and sharpies along with red cheeks to make his face comical.

Adding a red ribbon or two and he was ready for drama. Tiny really enjoyed this activity and it was a great way to learn a few facts like:

• drama is a Greek word meaning “action”
• tragedy is a play that usually depicts events from a mythical past and that often ends sadly
• comedy is a play that makes the audience laugh by poking fun at politicians, famous people, and even the gods

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