In the UK, we celebrate
World Book Day on the 3rd March every year. In school, we try to do activities to promote the love of books and reading. One contribution that many schools do is to get children (and teachers) to dress up as a character from a book.
I know that many people struggle to think of ideas. There are plenty of ideas available on the internet, but I will share some ideas I've come up with over the years. I've added to it this year too from last year.
Oh and here are my costumes from the previous years!
 |
World Book day 2013- Guinevere
 |
World Book day 2012- Helen of Troy
 |
| World book day 2011- Elizabeth Bennett |
|
|
Willy Wonka
·
Make
yourself a black top hat (I made one out of black card by making a cylinder
with black card and then making a black circle for the top and another long
strip to use around the bottom.
·
Purple (or
other coloured)blazer or long coat.
·
Over-the-top
big bow tie (can also be made with paper and elastic: polka dots),
·
Shirt and
trousers.
·
Make some
fake WONKA chocolate bars out of cardboard OR get some old chocolate wrappers and stick them inside
your pockets or hang them with string from your arms
·
Find an old
broom or umbrella (or large poster tube) and add a gold paper top to it to make
a cane.
Hansel and Gretel's house:
You could
make yourself a cardboard house shape (wear it like a simple sandwich board)
and paint or stick candy cane shapes, biscuit shapes all over it.
Alternatively
just make lots of sweet and cake shapes
and stick over a poncho- similar.
Matilda (Roald Dahl):
·
Long hair
down
·
Plain blue
dress
·
Make a fake
pile of books to hold in your arms (or tie some together)
Horrid Henry:
·
Jeans
·
Scruff up
and spike your hair
·
Find a blue
sweatshirt and pin a strip of yellow across the middle
·
Scowl lots
·
Trainers
Mr Bump (from the Mr Men)
·
Raid your
first aid box- wrap bandages neatly around your head and around your middle
·
Paint your
face blue.
·
Wear an ALL
blue outfit- trousers, jumper etc
Charlotte from Charlotte's Web
·
Wear ALL
black.
·
Get some old
black tights, cut the crotch off and stuff them with old socks or other items,
e.g. tissue/tissue/paper. Try to find 4
pairs of old tights (this might be one to plan for next year.. Save
them...) Pin them along your sides and a pair to your shoulder.
·
Find a black
beanie hat and make some eyes out of white felt with a marker pen and sew or
pin to the beanie.
Paddington Bear:
·
Black or red
floppy hat
·
Blue duffle
coat
·
Hold a
suitcase or make one out of cardboard.
·
Make a large
luggage tag saying, "Please take care of this bear" and string up
round your neck
·
Red Welly
boots
The rainbow fish:
Find ALL the
scraps of coloured material you can and sew together to make a fishy poncho-
try to include some metallic pieces too, if you can.
Wear all
blue and pin some coloured paper/material SCALES (half circle) in blues, greens
and purples.
A Card from
Alice in Wonderland.
(You will need: 2 large pieces of white
card string and a hole-punch, a wrapping-paper tube, black or red card and
paper), black or red clothes,
- Get 2 pieces of large card
and make yourself a sandwich board with it. Draw a card of your
choice on both (e.g. the 8 of spades) .
- Dependent on your card suit,
then wear clothes in either black or red.
- Make yourself a headdress by
cutting a strip of card in the appropriate colour and making it into a
ring for your child's head. Then make either a
heart/spade/diamond/club out of the same colour and stick it to the front.
- Sceptre: Then get an old
kitchen roll or wrapping tube and wrap it in red or black paper (or paint
it) and make another card cutout of the suit to stick on the top.
The white
rabbit from Alice 1.
Can be
exactly the same as the pack of cards except for the addition of bunny ears, a
ruff made out of concertined white card, and white clothes instead. You
could also have a bob-tail and paint on a face. I hate face paints or I'd
suggest a white face also.
The white rabbit from Alice 2.
Bunny ears and tail again. White trousers
- A monocle or glasses.
- For clothes, A tweed/suit
jacket
- A bow tie and waistcoat
- Smart shirt
- A pocket watch (can be a BIG
fake cardboard one!)
The mad hatter:
Totally based on the most spectacular costume a child wore some years ago.
Same sort of suit as the bunny (bow tie etc)
- A big top hat (I've made one
out of black card before. It is possible)
- String some toy teacups from
your pocket
- Crazy wig
Alice (in Wonderland):
Blue headband.
- Blue dress
- White apron
- white ankle socks and black
ankle strap shoes.
- Hold a little bottle, stick
on a label saying, "Drink me".
The Snow
queen
(If you had an Elsa costume, this is VERY similar idea to the Snow Queen!)
- Essentially you need a
white dress or white skirt and top.
- A tiara or crown can be made
out of white card if you don't have one (I have 3, am I weird in that
respect?)
- Maybe white lipstick or
white eye makeup?
- You could cut out some
snowflakes and attach them to the outfit as you see fit.
The white
witch from Narnia.
·
Similar to
the above. Except make your crown look nastier and spikier. And
maybe wear some fake fur items and carry a wand.
Joseph
and his technicolour dreamcoat.
Some nasty
80's lurid duvet cover from the charity shop? Cut it into a coat shape or a
long robe, Nativity three wise men stylie. (that's also an idea! The Bible is a
book!)
Or a coat
with lots of patches of coloured material attached.
The wardrobe
(from the Lion, the witch and the...)
Essentially,
you need a cardboard box suitably sized for your child and paints.
- Cut a hole in the top (the
sealed end), big enough for your child's head. Cut off the flappy
bits at the other end.
- Have fun painting it to
create an old-fashioned looking wardrobe!
- Wear brown or dark
clothes beneath.
-
Arwen from Lord of the Rings
A flowy dress.
- A cape.
- Some silvery sort of
headdress.
- Fake pointy ears if possible
- A bow and arrows
(stick/string?)
Robin
Hood
- Green clothes.
Ideally, a tunic, made out of green material (a green pillow case?)
Belted.
- Make a bow and arrows. See
above.
- A hat can easily be made by
sticking together two trapezium shapes of green paper with a fake feather
(or real- stalk the pigeons) attached.
Little Bo
Peep:
- You basically need a frilly
dress. (if your child has been a princess in previous years then
you're sorted for this)
- Maybe an apron.
- A bonnet. Go to a
charity shop and find an old straw hat. Put it on their head.
Tie a long thick piece of ribbon under their chin.
- Get a walking stick (again,
could be made out of cardboard) and attach a bow to it.
- Find a couple of cuddly
sheep for them to clutch.
Anne Kirrin from the Famous Five:
A white blouse and a beigy sort of cardigan.
- A pleated skirt and
knee-length socks.
- A navy blue head band (This
aspect is purely based on the 1970's Famous five TV series)
Puss in Boots:
·
Make
yourself a cat-mask or add black felt cat ears to a big hat.
·
Add a cat
tail
·
Wear long
boots or wellie boots.
(Watch Shrek
2 for ideas!)
The Very
Hungry Caterpillar:
(You will need green blanket and scraps of green material. Pins. Head
band and 2 green pipe cleaners, red face paint.)
- You could easily get an
old green blanket (or a green sheet or green material) and wrap it
around your child (towel style). (alternatively, old sleeping bag with
holes cut in feet.
- You can also wrap stripes
of contrasting green material or green ribbon or scarves around
it to create the stripes (or if you can sew, sew them on. Pin them
on?)
- Paint their face red.
They could wear green or yellow sunglasses over their eyes.
- Add green pipe cleaners to a
headband and wear them on the head.
Fawkes the
Phoenix from Harry Potter:
I actually dressed as a Phoenix several years ago for a silly event!
You will need:
- Red/yellow/gold/orange
clothes. I wore a simple vest vest top and a red sarong.
- For your wings. Make
yourself some wing shapes out of cardboard. We attached cotton
straps through slits. (a big sort of angel wings formation.) .
Get some crepe paper in red, yellow and orange plus some gold paper and
cut into lots and lots of short strips. Attach one end of each all
over the wing shape (to create feathers). Use scissors to curl
them out. Alternatively, you can make phoenix wings by adding taking
an old long-sleeved shirt or t-shirt (in theappropriate colours) and
adding the strips all along the length of the arms and along the back.)
When
I dressed up as a phoenix, we actually used one of those straw decorative woven
fans and attached all the crepe paper to that. It looked fab!
- For a headdress. Use a
selection of red/yellow/orange feathers and tuck them under a headband on
the head.
- You could make a beak out of
one segment of an egg-box attached to string (painted yellow) but I didn't
bother, thinking I'd look silly!)
Paperbag
Princess:
A fairly easy and cheap one. You will need A roll of brown parcel paper.
A tiara (or yellow/gold card)
- You could easily make a
dress (simple or more complex depending on your skill level) out of brown
paper. Alternatively (and this is what I am thinking of doing), you
could get a kitchen apron and pin the brown paper, having cut it to size
to it and that can easily be pulled on and off for inconveniences such as
PE or playtime so it doesn't get ruined, over clothes.
- Make a crown out of gold
card.
Mary Poppins
- A large charity shop hat to
which large fake flowers can be added.
- A large holdall type bag
(ideally tapestry)
- A long skirt and high necked
blouse. Or just a white blouse.
- A black umbrella
- A mid-length wool-type coat
(school coat?)
Bobby or Phyllis from The Railway
Children:
·
High necked
long-dress
·
White apron
or overall over the top.
·
Black beret.
·
Black tights
and boots
·
Red flannel
petticoat underneath.
Tom from The
water babies:
Essentially a chimney-sweep outfit. Good if your children are in year 5
or studying the Victorians.
- You can make
chimney brush (or just give them a broom. See if you can get
any chores out of them as a result!) our of a long stick with crepe
paper/black paper strip stuck to the top)
- Shirt and wastecoat (scruff
looking is fine.)
- Dirt/back eye-shadow spread
on cheeks to create dirt effect.
- Black trousers. Could
be ragged at the bottom if this is an item that's not needed
anymore. Alternatively, if like me you don't want to ruin it, just
give em the normal ones and roll them up!)
This is
similar to what an Oliver Twist outfit might be without the Broom
The highway man:
Also good for Year 6 and year 5 children. From Robert Louis Stevenson's
classic narrative poem.
The poem tells you what the costume should be!
He'd a French cocked hat at his forehead.
A bunch of lace at his chin.
A coat of claret velvet
And breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
(So that's: a wine-red coat, ideally velvet, some sort of white shirt,
ideally ruffly- you could make a ruffle out of some white material or just a
hankerchief; brown trousers or leggings (if girl?), A hat can
be made out of black card again. Think Admiral Nelson.
A sword in a belt, and two toy guns).
Girls could
also be Bess. Hair down, wear red roses in your hair. A
shawl, a red outfit or general old-fashioned looking dress. One of my
children actually took my suggestion for this one year and did this as her
costume. I was so proud of her!
Pied piper of Hamelin.
·
Some sort of
tunic (brown or read in colour) or waistcoat with a shirt
·
Simple
trousers.
·
Make a fake
wooden flute (or use a real one/recorder) out of some sort of tube or roll of
paper.
·
Make a stick
with a bundle of clothes atttached.
·
String some
fake rats to them. (I vaguely recall some sort of Jane Asher costume doing
this)
Katie Morag:
Year 2
children often study these books.
You need
(ideally a red bobbed wig)
·
Black
wellies or knee high boots if not
·
A tartan
skirt (green and yellow ideally but if not..),
·
A fair-isle
or embroidered white/cream jumper
·
A
scruffy old looking teddy (Tiresome Ted) to carry!
Red
riding hood:
I have
a red bed sheet. I'd tie it at the neck with a ribbon, wear a pretty
dress with an apron and white socks, carry a basket.
Any
human/god character from Ancient Greek myths (Are studied in all year groups in
primary school)
You will
need:
- A white sheet or piece of
light-coloured material.
- Either cut a hole half-way
through some material. Post the child's head through and belt it
with some rope (or a gold/silver/brown belt) OR just tie it toga-style at
one shoulder with it under the other arm.
- Head-dress: You could just
make a wreath out of any old leaves (use string/thread or whatever) or
what I did last year was to buy some of those gold leaves and flowers
attached to wire from hobbycraft and attach them to a gold headband.
- Sandals
- Gold accessories. (I wore a
nasty bling Primark coin necklace)I was Helen of Troy as you can see in a
previous post)
Other
Ancient Greek themes: (particularly suitable for boys who like gruesome gore)
The
minotaur: Dress them up in black/brown, make them bull horns on a
headband?
The medusa: Fake snake hair. You could
make one out of my old favourite, crepe-paper.
Daealus and
Icarus. See
the outfits for human character and add some feather wings.
Cyclops: Paint an eye on the boy's
forehead. Generally make him look butch.
The watchman
with 100 eyes.
Similar theme. Create fake eyes and stick them all over the child.
The tiger
who came to tea:
An orange t-shirt. use some black strips of material and pin them on.
·
String some
tea-cups from your shoulder/pocket.
·
Attach some
orange card in the form of tiger ears to a headband.
·
Make
yourself a tail by screwing/rolling up a piece of orange sugar-paper and attach
to your bottom somehow!
Handa's
surprise:
Based on someone's costume from a previous year
Lovely sarong on bottom half.
Nice blouse on top half.
Make a hat like a bowl of fruit and wear it on your head.
PIRATES:
Long John
Silver (Treasure Island) OR Captain Hook
(Peter Pan)
Basically a pirate costume:
Spotty headscarf,
Ruffly white skirt
Black suit jacket.
Black cropped trousers
Fake hook (can be made out of foil scrunched up)
A cuddly parrot on your shoulder.
Peter Pan:
Green
t-shirt
Green
leggings or trousers- you can fringe or cut jagged edges on these so they look
a bit more ragged.
Make a green
triangular paper hat and add a red paper feather.
Michael from Peter Pan costume:
White
pajamas or night shirt
Black top
hat
Black
umbrella
Black
glasses
Wendy from Peter Pan:
Pale blue
ball gown/party dress.
Pale blue
bow In hair
I really
hope that gives you some good ideas if you are stuck!
Where’s Wally?
Red and
white striped t-shirt
Blue
trousers
Black
circular glasses.
Red and
white striped hat.
Walking
stick
The BFG:
BIG fake
ears (drawn out of card)
White
t-shirt
Ragged brown
waistcoat
Green
trousers (maybe ragged and cropped)
Ear horn for
hearing!
FANTASTIC MR FOX:
Make a FOX
eye mask.
Wear a boy’s
suit
Long coat
Waistcoat
and shirt.
Bowtie
Smart
trousers.
George from George’s Marvellous
medicine:
Red t-shirt
Blue jeans
String up
(or make one out of card) a big wooden spoon and a medicine bottle from your
t-shirt.
Mr or Mrs Twit:
Draw on big
black eyebrows.
Make a fake
beard out of black wool or black paper tie with wool round face.
Draw beetles
and insects to stick to it.
Dark scruffy
looking adult clothes.
Granny/Wolf from Red Riding Hood.
White frilly mop cap
Brown/grey/black furry point wolf ears pinned to cap.
White old-fashioned nightdress.
Brown furry gloves- brown sleeves
Brown leggings and brown boots.
Draw on black nose and whiskers
A crayon from 'The day the crayons talked back' by Oliver Jeffers
Clothes in all one colour.
Circle of card in the same colour turned into a cone shape on head.
Make a label in the same colour saying "Crayola" on it- Pin to t-shirt.
