George Washington's Wig Craft for Kids
America's first president, George Washington, is such an iconic figure that even small children can recognize and maybe even recite a few facts about him. As a Halloween idea, or to dress up for a Presidents' Day at school, your child can play the part of an important figure in history by dressing up as Mr. Washington. And no such costume would be complete without a homemade powdered wig, and your child can even do most of the work.
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Paper Bag
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Gather a brown paper bag, scissors, glue, paintbrush, cotton and black or blue ribbon. Remove any handles from the bag and lay it flat. With your child's help, draw along the wide side of the bag in a U shape, with the base of the letter at the bottom of the bag. Open the bag and place on his head to check for size; trim if necessary. Next, allow your child to use the brush to coat that side of the bag with the glue and place the cotton over the entire glued area. Finally, run a bag tie through the back of the "wig" or glue a ribbon for the ponytail.
Painter's Cap
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Grab that old white painter's cap for this one. Stuff the hat with towels or old shirts so it will stand higher when placed on the head. Your child will wear the cap with the bill backwards. Use white glue and about a half-bag of cotton balls to cover the entire hat, including a line down the back bill of the cap. Then, cut some ribbon and glue it to the cotton balls on the bill for the ponytail. Alternatively, run ribbon down the nape of the neck and glue cotton balls to the ribbon.
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Rag Trick
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Place a white durage to cover the entire head of hair, using the strings to tie as tightly as needed. Using hot glue, apply as many cotton balls as necessary to cover the entire head. This is the most time-consuming part of the project, but it's really what makes it work as well as it does. Once the cotton has dried, use gray paint and a brush to blot random spots into the hair for contrast. For the ponytail, use gray gift ribbon, readily available from a discount store.
Accessorize
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For a neck covering, pick up a large, plain white towel and wrap it around the neck flush against the throat. To fill in space at the front, tack or staple down a white handkerchief. Use a dark jacket that's a bit too big for the child to serve as the presidential-looking coat. And to top it off with some humor, stick a dollar bill halfway into the front pocket of the jacket.
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