Montessori Mom

Costumes

Published on: June 30, 2007

Homemade costumes are so much fun to make with your child. Here are some simple ideas.

Silly clown shoes
Materials:

  • 2 shoe boxes and lids
  • Scissors
  • Paper or tissue
  • Tape
  • Decorations such as buttons, shoestrings, bows, ribbon, etc.
  • School glue

Cut out holes on the bottoms of the shoe boxes so that your feet fit into the “shoes.” Stuff the rest of the box so that your feet don’t slide around. Tape the lids on well (they will be the bottom of the shoes). Decorate and have fun with your silly shoes.

Egg carton mask
Materials:
Cardboard egg carton

  • Scissors
  • Paint and brushes
  • A chop stick or plain stick
Cut out 2 eggcups for eyes and cut down the middle to the next row to make a nose. Punch bit holes for the eyes. Let the children decorate. Glue the stick onto the back side of one of the eyes. The children can hold the stick to hold up the mask.

 

Egg carton hat

Use Styrofoam egg cartons to make a wild and interesting hat. Cut the egg carton in half. On either side, poke a hole; attach ribbon or elastic in both holes. If you are making a fancy hat, ribbon can be tied under the chin to keep the hat on. You can decorate the hats with flowers, plastic bugs, feathers, buttons, glitter, fake eyes, cut out ears (bunny, dog, etc.) Use pipe cleaners to attach small items, such as plastic flowers, bugs. These can be really pretty or wild and funny.

Native American Headdress

Materials:

  • Large paper bag-big enough to fit your child's head
  • Sharp Scissors
  • Tape
  • Glue
  • Pencil
  • Paint or crayons
  • Glitter or glitter paint

Fit the bag on your child's head. Take the open part of the bag and place around head. Pleat a few tucks and tape to make it fit properly.

Cut off the bottom of the bag.

Let your child help with this part:
Fold the bag in half. Make a sharp crease by running your hand up and down the crease. Fold the bag again. And make sharp creases again.

Now this:
On the top of the fold, draw a pencil outline of a feather, leave about 3 inches for the head band.

Hold tightly to the folded bag and cut on the pencil outline through all the folds.

Open the bag and you should have feathers to decorate and color. Fold the head band in half and tape or glue together. Tape the top of the head band between the feathers. This should give the headdress more support.

Decorate the feathers on both sides.

Here is a great vest to go with your headdress

Wild West Vest

Materials:

  • A large brown paper bag (grocery store ones with the box like bottoms)
  • Scissors
  • Crayons
  • Art supplies to glue onto such as feathers, leaves, beads, buttons

Cut up the side of the bag if your child is small.
Cut up the middle of the bag if your child is big.
Stop 2 inches from the bottom of the bag.

Cut an opening at the bottom of the bag for your child's neck. On either side of the bag cut out roomy arm holes about an inch down from the bottom of the bag.

Let your child fringe the bottom and inside cut of the vest.

Also, you can make symbols on the back, such as the sun, moon, etc. Let your child tell a story about his pictographs.

Paper Hat

Materials:

  • Newspaper, construction paper or paper from a large bag
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Tape, glue or stapler

Cut the paper into a large square. Fold in half diagonally -making 2 triangles. (Show your child the 2 triangles). Cut along the fold.

On one triangle-Cut a 3 to 4 inch center slit on the long side the triangle.
Fold the paper back to form brim flaps on both sides of the cut center.

Tape (glue or staple) the triangles together along both sides of the hat. You can fold back the top of the hat and tape it in place. Decorate the hat or just have fun wearing it.

Top Hat

Materials:

  • Heavy construction paper or poster board
  • Scissors
  • Glue

Brim-Cut out a 15 inch circle. Cut a circle in the middle to fit your child's head.

Crown-Cut a rectangle at least 7 inches wide (more if you want a taller hat) and at least 23 inches long. (You can measure you child's head and add an inch to get the right length for the hat.)

Roll the paper into a cylinder. Measure it so it fits into the brim. Tape or glue the seams of cylinder.

On the bottom of the cylinder crown cut slits about 1 1/2 inches deep and about

1 1/2 inches apart. Fold the tabs outward from the crown. Slide the brim over the cylinder. Turn the hat upside down to glue the tabs to the brim.

References

Homemade Costumes  

 


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