Here are some different ideas from Clary Salandy for making the donkey head for your Burrokeet costume, depending on what recycled materials you have available.
- Large Plastic Bottle Donkey
- Juice Cartons Donkey
- Brown Paper Donkey
- Broom Bristle Donkey
- Cardboard Envelope Donkey
This donkey’s head is made from a large plastic bottle, with paper features stuck on with clear sticky tape.
Through cutting and bending paper or cardboard into the shape of the different features of the donkey’s face, you can make its nose, eyes, ears and hair to stick on to your plastic bottle.
Another way of making a donkey’s head for your burrokeet performance is to take two empty cardboard cartons – Clary is using two coconut water cartons, but you could use juice or plant milk cartons – whatever large empty cardboard cartons you have. Remember to wash them out in the sink first!
Stick the cartons on either side of a broom with the broom upside down so you’re sandwiching the bristles between the two cartons, and attach the cartons to the broom with a few layers of clear sticky tape.
Holding the cartons together lengthways, squash the cartons together about a third of the way up, and wrap a few layers of clear sticky tape around where you’ve squashed the cartons together. This makes the shape of the cartons more like a donkey’s head, and will also make the donkey’s head stronger.
You can then add the nose and ears in the same way as for the donkey made from the big plastic bottle.
To make half of the donkey’s nose (one of its nostrils) you can cut this shape from paper or thin cardboard.
The shape is curved at the bottom with a big curve cut out of it, and curves round to a flat edge at the top. In the middle of the flat edge, a slit is cut halfway to the cut out curve at the bottom.
Tape the two points above the big curve together with clear sticky tape.
Fold along where the slit in the paper is to give the nostril a rounded 3D shape.
Tape the folded slit together.
This makes your nostril shape.
Put the nostril shape over one of the cartons at the front end of the carton. Tape in place.
Make another nostril in the same way and tape it over the other carton to create the nose.
Create the ears for the donkey by cutting out two long donkey ear shapes from paper or a cereal box.
Once you’ve cut out one ear shape, you can trace around it for the second ear which will mean the ears are the same size and shape as each other.
Bending the ear shapes in half lengthways will make them stronger and mean they stand up better once you tape them to the donkey’s head.
Tape the donkey’s ears to the back of your large plastic bottle or cartons. By placing the ears at a different angle, you can change the donkey’s personality – if they’re further apart and a bit floppy, perhaps your donkey is silly and mischievous. If they point straight down, perhaps you have a gentle, slower donkey.
If you’re using a cereal box to make your donkey, you can make sure the brown side is facing forward when you tape it to the donkey’s head, to give the impression of the colour of the donkey’s fur.
By cutting a long wide strip of paper, cutting a slit in the middle, curving the paper around to the slit and taping it in place, you can create a bulging eye – like a donkey’s! Once you’ve made two, stick them in the halfway up and slightly to either edge of the cartons or large plastic bottle, as donkeys have quite wide apart eyes that look to the side.
To attach your donkey’s head to your broom or mop handle, cut two small slits in a cross shape into the plastic bottle, in the middle of the bottom of the bottle (that doesn’t have any paper face features attached to it).
This will make a hole you can push your broom or mop handle into. Push the broom handle all the way to the top of the inside of the bottle. The donkey’s head will now be on a slant, as if it’s looking down at the audience. This is why it’s important to think about the fact that the donkey’s face will be on a slant, looking downwards, when you’re performing – how will you make sure all of the donkey’s face can be seen on screen?
Brown Paper Donkey with a cardboard juice carton base
This donkey was made using a base of two cartons squashed and taped together like in the example above.
The base was then wrapped in the brown paper packaging that protects fragile items in cardboard home delivery boxes.
Two more strips of this brown paper packaging were squashed to make the donkey’s ears.
The top of an egg box was used to make the donkey’s nose, and the slits in the top of the eggs box were coloured in with a black pen on the inside to look like nostrils.
Two of the egg cups from the inside of the egg box were cut out, turned upside down, and taped wide apart and to either side of the centre the donkey’s face to make the eyes. The pupils of the eyes were then coloured in with black pen.
Broom bristle hair for your donkey
Instead of using a large plastic bottle or two large cardboard cartons, you could use two medium sized bottles stuck with clear sticky tape just underneath and to either side of a broom’s bristles.
The bristles will become the donkey’s hair.
This broom is quite brightly coloured, which would give the donkey’s hair a flamboyant look.
If you don’t have cardboard cartons or plastic bottles, you could use lots of different kitchen recycling to make the donkey’s head, such as a large cardboard envelope.
Open up the envelope into a more 3D shape, making sure it’s still joined together.
Squeeze the envelope together about a third of the way up, to make the shape of the donkey’s face and nose.
The squeezed end of the donkey nose make the donkey’s nostrils.
Cut two small slits on the bottom of the donkey’s head in the centre of the cardboard.
Push your broom handle into this and your donkey hobby horse is almost ready to go! You just need to add the eyes, the ears, and any decorations.
