Customizable
Hyena Headdress Mask Pattern –
For the Hyenas in
the Lion King Play
$12
This hyena headdress mask pattern creates all the shapes for you.
No sculpting experience is required – just stick the pattern to cereal box cardboard and add one layer of paper mache. Then get creative with acrylic paint.
Do you need a whole pack of hyenas for your Lion King Jr. production? You can give each one a personality of its own. Your hyena masks can be mean and sneaky, or sweet and lovable, or anything you want them to be – customizing this pattern is a lot fun, and your audience will love them.
How to make your hyena masks with this pattern:
Print the downloadable pattern, and stick it to cereal box cardboard. Cut out the pattern, tape the pieces together, and add foam balls for the eyes.
Open his mouth and add teeth if you want a more ferocious look. The instructions show you how.
Add one layer of paper mache. I used brown paper and wood glue.
Paint your hyena masks, using your favorite hyena photo for a model.
Finished size:
About 9 inches (22.86 cm) high, 11 inches (27.94 cm) wide and 14 inches (35.56 cm) deep. It will fit an adult-sized head, but it can be easily altered to fit anyone.
My downloadable PDF Patterns come with full instructions.
There’s no waiting for your pattern to arrive, and no shipping costs, so you can start on your project right away.
Note: If you’ll be saving your pattern to and iPhone or iPad, those devices like to hide your downloaded files. You can scroll down this page to see how to find them.
And remember – if you have any problems downloading your files or putting your pattern together, just let me know. I’m always happy to help. 🙂
Watch this video to see how to customize your hyena mask:
And watch the video below to see a fast, easy way to cover your mask with paper mache.
A lion helped with this video, but the method works just as well for the hyena masks. 🙂
For each paper mache Hyena Mask you will need:
- Printer
- Copy paper or full-sheet labels (recommended)
- Glue stick if using copy paper for pattern
- Cardboard from 5 standard-sized cereal boxes
- Paper towels
- Sharp scissors for cutting cardboard
- Tape, both clear plastic tape and masking tape
- Aluminum foil
- Glue gun
- 3 cm Styrofoam ball
- Paper strips and paste (or use brown paper and Titebond III wood glue like I did – recommended)
- White primer or acrylic gesso
- Acrylic paint and varnish
- Black felt (optional)
$12
More Lion King Headdress Mask Patterns:
Do you have a question or need help with your pattern?
There are two ways to contact me: The fastest way to get an answer is to leave a comment below. I read all comments and answer them as soon as I can, usually within a few hours. One of my readers might also chime in to help – we have a very supportive community here on this site.
If you prefer to reach me privately, you can send me an email.
I get a ton of spam and I don’t want your email to get lost, so please put “paper mache” in the subject line so your email won’t be accidentally deleted. If you don’t hear back from me within 24 hours, assume the cyberspace gremlins ate your email, and try again. 🙂
Hi there! I have purchased a cow I made into a cool puppet for a production of Into the Woods and the Rat King for a Ren faire. I LOVE your patterns! I need to make a badger. I am thinking the Hyena would work, but to adjust the ear size.. Thoughts?
Hi Caitlin. That’s an interesting question! I haven’t seen a badger in person, but the photos show them having a long muzzle that is straight on the top, from the nose to the back of his head. He doesn’t have the ‘stop,’ or step from the muzzle to the forehead that the hyena (and dogs) have. To me, the badger looks more like the meerket. Timon’s eyes are bigger than a badger’s, his nose is smaller, and his ears seem to be further back. But the basic shape of the head looks pretty close. The badger’s head looks flatter, but I think that’s because they have a ruff of fur on their cheeks. Most of the changes could be made with crumpled foil covered with masking tape. After saying all that, though, you might be able to flatten out the hyena by bringing his mouth up closer to his nose, adding the cheek fur, and making those ears smaller. Either way, you’d need to fiddle around with it to make it work – but that’s always fun. 🙂
Are you going to use the badger mask in a play?
Yes! We are doing the play called Puffs! It’s the HP story told from the Hufflepuff perspective. Their “mascot” is a badger!
Hi! I’m wondering what the time commitment is for each of the steps to make a hyena headdress?
Appx how long to cut and assemble the hyena?
How long to put the paper mache on?
How long did it take to decorate/paint?
We have several we need to do in a short amount of time and I’m trying to figure out what some short cuts may be.
Hi Shelby. I don’t time myself when I put the patterns together, so I can’t give you an exact answer. You should give yourself at least an hour to cut out the pieces, and another hour or two to put the pieces together. The second one will go faster, because you will already know where all the pieces go after making the first one. It usually takes me at least a couple of houra to put on the paper mache. Then you need to let them dry at least overnight before you paint them, which could take anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours, depending on how much detail you put on them. If they’ll be on stage, you don’t need small details because the audience wouldn’t see them. I hope this helps. 🙂
Hello! I know these have been on here for a few years, so I’m hoping you’re still here. I want to buy ALL patterns from the lion king. I know there is a deal on the lions. Is there a deal for all the other patterns? (Hyenas, Timon, pumba, mandrill, etc…)?
Hi Stephanie. Yes, there’s actually a deal on every purchase over $30. When you order, the second checkout window has a link that says “got a code?” Just click on it, and paste in the coupon code, with no spaces – 15%OffOver30 – and you’ll receive the discount on all your patterns, including an extra discount on your lion patterns.
Have fun! 🙂
I am LOVING your site! Bought your lion and hyena patterns and I’m finding the process just so fun and accessible because of all of your well-documented instructions, both video and written.
Two questions:
Do you put the wood glue paper mache on the inside of the skull cap or just the outside?
I’d like to get a lot of caps done and measured to kids’ heads before determining which animal goes on front (hyena, lioness, etc). Can I go ahead and paper Mache them or do you recommend that they only be paper macheed after being attached to the mask portion?
Hi Ashleigh. I don’t add paper mache to the inside of the caps, but the extra layer of paper mache on the inside would make them stronger. The paper mache is needed to create a strong connection between the cap and mask, but if you want to do the paper mache on the caps first you could add more strips of paper and glue after the mask is attached to them. The cap patterns may vary slightly between the different animals. If you make up a lot of them, just keep the hyena caps separate from baby Simba, etc.
I’m so glad you’re having fun with the masks! When you’re finished with them, I know we’d all love to see how they come out. You can upload some photos on the Daily Sculptors page, if you’d like to show them off. 🙂
Hi Monica. Thanks for asking. I took the old version of the hyena one off my pattern page because most people were trying to turn it into a headdress mask for the Lion King Play, and the new version is much better for that use. If you prefer the original version, you can go directly to the checkout page by clicking here. The pattern is $7.
Hi,
I need Hyena mask, but one that goes on face. Does the link in comment above work? And would it be posible to see how that pattern looks? Is it similar to headdress version?
Thank you
is it possible to see the image of the old hyena design? I was originally thinking a mask too, so just want to see both versions before purchasing. The link just goes to payment page but you can’t see the original hyena pattern.
Hi Ursula. You can see how the hyena looks in this video: https://youtu.be/WQgaaSib6vY
And you can see how to put it together in this video: https://youtu.be/M0nBQD2H9Xs
The pattern is very different from my other masks, as you can see in the videos.
Thank you! A comment for future videos and photos: could you please wear the masks and headdresses at some point? When considering these for children, need to see how they would be worn.
I do usually put them on – mostly because it’s a lot of fun. Or they’re photographed on a mannequin. That isn’t true for some of the older patterns, though. Is there a mask that you can’t see me wearing in the videos?
No, I haven’t. Is Pumma a character? I just did a fast search and I can’t find it, for some reason – and I’m probably going to feel really silly when you tell me, because I probably should already know. Do you have a link to help me remember?
I feel funny telling you about this. I bought the Mandrill mask. Pcs 1 and 2 are identical. Should one be a mirror image of the other?
Thank you so much for telling me, Randy! I can’t believe I did that. 🙁
I fixed the pattern and sent the updated version to everyone who ordered the pattern, but it may take a few minutes to get there. If you don’t see the email in your inbox within the next hour or so, please check your promotions folder.