We love to Create, PLAY, and Explore around here. One of the ways we do that is by playing dress-up and making our own costumes. My kids can frequently be found taping paper masks they've made to random pairs of sunglasses.
Canning Jar Lid, Sponge Craft Brush (handle), Glue (I used E600), and Black Spray Paint.
Step 1: Remove sponge head from craft brush and glue canning jar ring to wooden handle. Allow to dry.
Step 2: Spray paint the whole thing black in a well ventilated area - we did this outdoors, in our driveway, on a newspaper.
1 hooded sweatshirt, felt, scissors, needle and thread, glue (I like Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue) Optional: Iron (makes it easier to find the center line of the hoodie), ribbon and safety pins if you want the spikes to be removable like mine!
Step 1: Cut felt into diamond shapes. For a 3T sweatshirt 12-15 2"x4" diamonds will work. Ours was a women's small sweatshirt - we used 22 felt diamonds.
Step 2: Fold the sweatshirt in half and iron it down the middle to create a visible crease - this is your center line to follow when you stitch or pin the spikes on your hoodie.
Step 3: Unfold and lay down the hoodie with the back facing up. Center the diamonds down the middle crease without overlapping.
Step 4: Sew middle of each diamond to shirt. Fold diamonds in half to make a triangle. Glue halves together. The other option for this step is to stitch and glue your felt diamonds to the ribbon then pin the ribbon to your hoodie when the glue is dry.
Face paint is a fun touch too for dress up time too! You can learn about our favorite brand of face paint and see a demonstration of me using it here.
Free play is endangered by schools that cut recess time and even preschools that are moving away from play based "curriculum" to structured and focused activities to "prep" students for upper grades. So get out there and play!
(Keep an eye out, you might see some familiar faces!)
Sprout was kind enough to send us this box full of goodies
for us to make some fun DIY costumes for play -- Thank you Sprout!