How to Make a Lion Tail

Give your lion costume a tail.

As younger children learn about animals, they like to imitate them. Whether it's barking like a dog, tweeting like a bird or roaring like a lion, kids enjoy pretending to actually be an animal. Parents can encourage their children to learn more about lions and then act out a lion's behavior by dressing the child like a lion. Children can wear golden-colored sweat outfits with an attached tail that is created by the parents.

Things You'll Need

• Yellow fabric or felt
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Cotton balls, tissues or leftover fabric scraps
• Felt rectangles
• Hot glue gun
• Safety pin

Instructions

1. Roll out some yellow fabric or felt, and cut out a piece that measures 36 inches in length and 7 inches in width.

2. Fold the yellow rectangle in half so that it is still 36 inches in length, but is now only 3 1/2 inches wide. Sew the bottom and open side with a sewing machine and a matching color thread. Leave the top open.

3. Invert the material, turning the seam to the inside, and then stuff the inside with cotton balls, tissues or leftover fabric scraps.

4. Cut eight pieces of felt, using various shades of gold, tan, yellow and brown. Each piece should be 4 inches in length with a width of 1 inch. Glue these pieces around the bottom edge of the lion's tail with a hot glue gun. Regular school glue isn't strong enough to hold the felt in place.

5. Sew up the open end of the lion's tail to keep the stuffing inside. Pin to your child's pants with a safety pin.

Tips & Warnings

• You can sew the felt pieces to the end of the lion's tail by hand if you don't want to glue them on.

• If you are uneasy about using a safety pin to attach the lion's tail, you can use a small square of Velcro instead.

References

• Country Living: Lion Halloween Costume
• Reader's Digest: Lion Halloween Costume