Mardi Gras Craft for Kids: Construction Paper Jester Hat

This is a simple craft that your kids can enjoy making for Mardi Gras. It's a colorful jester hat made from construction paper. This jester hat can be made using just construction paper and glue, or it can be embellished any way you like. This is a great hat to make for a Mardi Gras party. Make one for every party guest, even the adults!

To make the jester hat, you will need construction paper in purple, green and yellow (those are the official Mardi Gras colors, but feel free to change the colors to your liking). To get an idea of what the finished hat might look like, click here to see an image.

Start your jester hat by making a band. Cut strips of construction paper and tape or glue them together to form a band that will fit around the head of the person the hat is for. You can make a band using two colors as seen in the image if you like. Wrap the band around the head and mark it so you know where the band should end. Then cut the band to fit and tape or glue it to secure the band.

Make the hat points by cutting various colors of construction paper into long triangle shapes. You want to make five hat points, so it's a good idea to measure your band so you know how wide the base of each triangle should be. If your triangles are too wide, you can just trim them to make them fit. If they are too narrow, that's no big deal. It's okay to have spaces between the hat points.

Once you have your hat points cut out, glue or tape them to the inside of the band. Then you can decorate the jester hat any way you like. One thing you might want to do to make it look official is to hang a little jingle bell on the end of each point. You can hang the bells on by passing a piece of yarn or cord through the bell's eye then taping or gluing the loose end of the yarn to the paper.

If you don't have bells, you can always hang circles that you cut out of yellow construction paper. Or you can use buttons if you like. Then decorate the rest of the hat any way you like. You can draw on it, glue cut out shapes to it, add stickers to it, and even jazz it up with shiny glitter. Any way you decorate it, it will be perfect!

If you are making these jester hats for party guests, you can just make all the bands on the big side to be sure they will fit. Then when a guest puts on a hat, you can fold the band over for a snug fit and secure with a piece of tape. You get a perfect custom fit every time!