How to Make Your Own Animal Costumes

Use a few simple craft supplies to make your own animal costumes.

If your kids like to dress up, you can make your own animal costumes at home and give them hours of fun each time they put them on. Costumes can be created out of simple craft store finds, regardless of your sewing and crafting skills. Your homemade animal costumes will be perfect for daily dressup or even Halloween or a school play.

Things You'll Need

• Sweatsuits
• Cotton balls
• Faux fur fabric
• Felt fabric
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• Headbands
• Elastic

Instructions

1. Start with a basic sweatsuit in the color that matches your animal. For a sheep, try white or black. Use brown for a dog or a pony; go grey for an elephant. The sweatsuit needs to be something that you're willing to use exclusively for this project, because you will permanently alter it for the costume.

2. Glue cotton balls or fake fur pieces to the sweatshirt to make such animals as a sheep, lion or bear. If you're making a dog or an insect costume, try glueing felt circles onto the shirt to make polka dots.

3. Cut out ear shapes from felt or fabric and glue them onto a headband. Try pointed ears for a cat or a pig, and longer drooping ears for a dog or a sheep.

4. Cut a nose shape out of felt, such as a circle with large nostrils for a pig or a whiskered look for a cat. Attach a loop of elastic string to this and wear it around your face.

References

• KinderArt: Easy Animal Costumes for Infants for Halloween
• FleeceFarm: Costume Making for Kids