Mask Making

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Create a tangible visual symbol to examine and articulate facets of personal identity, professional roles, or team experiences.

Use it when: Use in team retreats, community dialogue sessions, or onboarding cohorts when exploring professional roles, organizational culture, or emotional dimensions of work.

Skip it when: Skip when the session lacks at least an hour for physical crafting, or when participants are focused on urgent technical problem-solving with tight deadlines.

Group arrangement: Individual crafting followed by trios or quartets for sharing, then whole-room debrief

Timing: Source recommends 60 to 90 minutes. This plan uses a 60-minute framework suitable for groups up to 24.

Materials and tools

• Heavy cardstock or blank mask bases (1 per participant)
• Markers, colored pencils, or felt-tip pens (1 set per 4 participants)
• Craft scissors (1 pair per 2 participants)
• Glue sticks or craft glue (1 per 3 participants)
• Rolls of tape or masking tape (2 rolls per table)
• Elastic bands, ribbons, or wooden craft dowels for holding the masks (1 per participant)
• Decorative crafting supplies such as fabric scraps, yarn, buttons, stickers, or recycled paper
• Scratch paper for preliminary sketching (2 sheets per person)

Before participants arrive

1. Spread craft materials, bases, markers, and adhesives across accessible tables so participants can reach them easily.
2. Set up a dedicated display table or cleared shelf where completed masks can rest during breaks.
3. Ensure waste bins are located near crafting stations for scrap cleanup.

Say this to open

Welcome. Today we will design and construct a mask that represents an aspect of how you experience your role, a part of your identity, or a symbolic character you bring to our group. Masks have been used across cultures to highlight specific truths, tell stories, or explore roles. You will have 5 minutes to sketch your concept, 25 minutes to build, and time to share your piece in small groups. You decide what your mask represents, and you control how much meaning you share.

How to run it

1. Introduce prompt and sketch concept 5 minutes

   Deliver the opening script. Direct participants to take scratch paper and spend 5 minutes jotting notes or sketching a preliminary design. Clarify that the theme can be an emotion, a public versus private role, an animal symbol, or an organizational persona. Example: a mask split down the center with one side showing calm lines and the other showing colorful chaos to represent managing routine tasks while feeling creative pressure.

2. Construct and decorate masks 25 minutes

   Invite participants to select a base, cut shapes, attach straps or dowels, and decorate their masks using the provided supplies. Participants work individually, though table conversation is permitted. Give a 5-minute warning at minute 20 and a 1-minute warning at minute 24.

3. Share masks in small groups 15 minutes

   Group participants into trios or quartets. Give each person 2.5 to 3 minutes to present their mask and address two prompts: What does this mask represent? What part of your role or identity does it show or protect? Group members listen without evaluating or diagnosing. Any participant may pass or describe only colors and materials without personal disclosure.

4. Debrief the experience 15 minutes

   Reconvene the full room. Facilitate a reflective discussion focused on the creative process and collective themes. Take 4 to 5 volunteer responses across the whole room.

Debrief questions

• What did you notice about what felt easy or difficult to show through visual symbols rather than words?
• What common patterns or tensions did you notice across the masks shared in your small group?
• How does the concept of a mask connect to the different personas or expectations we carry in our daily work?

Finished output: A set of completed physical masks and small-group notes on shared themes or role expectations.

Remote

Have participants gather home craft supplies, cardstock, or recycled packaging, or use a digital whiteboard tool (such as Miro, Mural, or Canva) to assemble a digital collage mask using shape tools and stock imagery. In Step 3, send participants to breakout rooms of 3 or 4 for 15 minutes to share their camera view or screen-share their digital canvas. In Step 4, bring all attendees back to the main room to debrief.

Hybrid

In-person participants construct physical masks at tables while remote participants craft at home or create digital collages on a shared whiteboard. For Step 3 small-group sharing, form mixed groups of 3 or 4 by having one in-person participant per table bring a laptop with webcam and headset to connect with a remote peer, ensuring equal turn-taking (up to 3 minutes per person). For the final debrief, project the shared digital board and room camera, alternating comments between physical and virtual attendees.

Access and participation choices

• Provide handheld dowels as an alternative to elastic head straps for participants with sensory sensitivities or hairstyles that prevent wearing headgear.
• Allow participants to construct a flat symbol card or 2D collage instead of a wearable face mask.
• Participants may describe their mask solely by its aesthetic choices without disclosing personal emotions, background, or identity aspects.

If the session gets stuck

A participant feels intimidated by crafting or claims they are not artistic.

Remind them that this is not an art test. Encourage simple geometric shapes, single colors, or writing key words and abstract patterns directly onto cardstock.

Mask construction is taking longer than planned and people are not finished by minute 25.

Announce that masks do not need to be complete art objects. Remind the room that the mask is an unfinished symbolic draft for the conversation, and move to small-group sharing on time.

Terms used here

• Symbolic representation: Using an image, color, shape, or character to represent an abstract idea, emotion, or professional role.