How to Make a Crocodile Costume

Little trick-or-treaters will have fun helping making this simple but ferocious crocodile costume head. The body of the costume can be a green sweatshirt and sweatpants.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 2 filing boxes
• Scissors
• Dental floss
• Pipe cleaners
• Safety pins
• Green sweatshirt and sweatpants
• Stapler
• Poster paint

1. Stack the two box lids from the filing boxes on top of one another to form the mouth.

2. Make the file box lid slits larger by poking holes in them. The slits are where the inside tab fold and poke through the slit.

3. Bound the two lids, open sides together, by running the dental floss through the two holes. Tie each piece tightly so that the lids don't move side-to-side.

4. Fold in the bottom of one of the boxes so that the box has just four sides. Poke two sets of two holes in the middle of the short side of box horizontal to the short end. Insert a green pipe cleaner through a set of holes with the ends to the outside of the box.

5. Attach the head to the mouth by running the pipe cleaners on the short side of the box to the two sets of string on the jaws. Twist the pipe cleaners through the dental floss to secure the box "head" to the lids "mouth." The mouth should be even with the bottom of the open box.

6. Try the costume head on a child. Mark where eye holes should be made above the mouth. Be sure to make the holes large enough to allow the child to see with adequate peripheral vision. Cut out the eye holes with scissors.

7. Cut up one side of the second file box to form a long tail. Bend the large end of the tail back about 1 inch to form a flap. Attach the flap of the tail to sweatpants using safety pins.

8. Make the crocodiles large oval eyes out of the second file box and staple them to the top of the head. Cut out a tongue and staple it to the inside of the bottom mouth lid. Cut a strip of the long side of the box into a row of triangles to make the teeth. Staple these onto the front of the top lid, on the inside.

9. Paint the crocodile head green, adding a red tongue, white teeth and yellow eyes with black pupils. Camouflage the child eye holes by painting the inside rims of the eye holes.

Tips & Warnings

• The head of the costume will rest on the child's shoulders and held in place with one hand. The child can lift the top box of the mouth with the other hand.