Papier-Mâché Piñatas

Arts and Crafts

Mar 22

Papier-Mâché is an all-time favorite craft. It’s fun, messy, and creative! I love teaching this craft to children because it is a multi-step process where they must imagine, invent, build, and adapt while exercising patience and persistence.

At AMSC, this project is broken up into a couple of hours at a time. At the end of the week, campers are so excited that they have carefully crafted an enormous project by taking it in little chunks at a time.

Supplies:

- Balloons

- Thin Cardboard

- Papier-Mâché Paste (flour and water)

- Newspaper or Paper Towel Strips

- Floral Wires

- Painter’s Tape

- Construction Paper

- Glue

- Tissue Paper or Crepe Paper Streamers

- Yarn or string

- Confetti and/or small prizes

- Scissors

Directions:

1. Decide what you want to build. We recommend simple one-balloon designs such as animal heads or colorful orbs for beginners.

Give your project as much forethought as possible. Do you want to attach arms or legs? Where will the hanger be attached? Will you build up a nose or maybe add horns and ears?
If your project is round, expect it to roll when adding strips. It can be helpful to build a base to keep your project in place!

2. Build the skeleton for your creation. Use a balloon for the main body parts. Cardboard, wire, and painter’s tape are great for attaching appendages and adding features to your creation.

Take the time to make sure everything is attached well and the skeleton is sturdy.

3. Mix the papier-mâché paste. The recipe is simply 2 parts water and 1 part flour.

4. Prepare strips of paper by cutting or tearing newspaper or paper towels into strips.

Brown industrial paper towels work great for this project. And it doubles as cleaning supplies at the ready!

5. Dip the strips of paper into the paste briefly to coat before running the paper strip through your fingers to allow all the excess paste to run back into the bowl. Then lay your strip flat along the body of your creation.

Do not apply your strips too wet! They won’t stick as well and your project will take a long time to dry.
Apply Strips in a cross-hatch fashion to increase the structural integrity of your craft.
Small details and features can be built up and covered with paper strips if you didn’t add them in Step 2.

6. Continue to add strips until your entire creature is coated.

7. Allow the body to dry completely.

8. Add a hatch for treats. Cut 3 sides of a square in the bottom of your creature. Add a strip of tape to the inside of the hatch to hold it closed while you decorate.

9. Pierce two holes in the top of your creature. Feed the wire or yarn/string through and then twist together at the top of your piñata.

10. Cover your piñata. You can decorate your creation any way you want. There are a couple of different Tissue Paper techniques we teach or you can choose to paint it if you want. We like to make eyes and mouths out of construction paper and then attach tissue paper fur or designs. The sky is the limit when it comes to decorations!

11. Full with prizes or small bits of construction paper confetti.

Tissue Paper Technique One

1. Cut Tissue Paper into Squares

AMSC has hacked this by using crepe paper streamers! It’s easy for kids to cut these into similar-sized squares.

2. Dip one edge of the tissue paper along the glue and then attach it to the pinata so that it lays flat. Continue adding strips building from the bottom or back of the pinata to forward to the top.

It is important to plan your design. We even recommend drawing it out on your creation with a marker first.
This layering technique adds the squares of tissue paper on like scales, which is why it is important to work from bottom to top.

3. Add details such as construction paper eyes, mouths, and noses and any final details.

Tissue Paper Technique Two

1. Add details such as construction paper eyes, mouths, and noses.

2. Cut Tissue Paper into Squares