I would like to give credit for this idea to the proper book and author, but I have lost the information. If anyone knows where this great idea came from, please edit this wiki!

This craft is sort of light switch meets witch doctor! It is a paper mask for your light switch, and it can be as wild as you can make it. Mine has red eyes with half circles around them, flowered cheeks, curls of paper for hair, green and blue ears, a curled up moustache, a red tongue coming from black lips, and a goatee.


Materials: Tagboard cut to fit over a light switch cover. I suggest using a real light switch cover rather than a template which is what I did. Round the corners so they can be snipped and pasted.
Magazine or catalog pages
Glue stick
Scissors
Craft knife

Time: About 20 minutes. Perhaps longer if the kids are particular about how they want to decorate.

Method: 1) Cut out the light switch cover from tagboard. Use a knife to make the holes where the screws will go. Cut the hole for the "nose."
2) Slit the edges just enough to allow the ends to cross over. This makes the cover fit snugly.
3) Glue the ends over each other. You will probably have to hold them together for a minute or so in order for the glue to dry properly.
4) Begin to decorate your mask. Look for patches of bright color or interesting patterns to make the parts of the face. As you can see, I used red eyes with black outlines for a striking effect.
5) The cheeks are 3-dimensional. Cut a circle, then slit it and glue the edges over each other to make a cone. You will need to use a lot of glue to make the sharp edges stick to the mask.
6) Curl hair or tongue by rolling the paper around a pencil.
7) Allow it all to dry.

TIPS FOR WORKING WITH KIDS
The kids I did this with were 5-8 years old and they were very literal. They combed through the magazines for photos of eyes to use for eyes. They hunted noses. They found lips in lipstick ads. The abstract quality of this art was lost on them, and I would expect an older group of kids, say 10-12 to have great fun with more creativity than the younger group.