Tyrone the Backyardigan

What you need:
Foam pages
Grey x3
Black x1
Orange x3
Light blue x3
Pink x3
Foam squares
Red
Green
White
Black
Orange
Brown
Dark blue
Foam glue
Green plastic table cloth
Plastic plates
Permanent Markers (black, silver, pink, red, orange, yellow, purple, blue)
Thick cardboard plaque-board
Popsicle sticks

Assembly:
My son’s favorite thing was the Backyardigans t.v show. His favorite character was Tyrone. Each Backyardigan character lives in their own house (with their own colour) and they all meet every day in the backyard. So we decided to surround my son in his ‘backyard’ with the houses around him. This turned into a much more ‘crafty’ project than I had originally anticipated, but he was very happy with the result (and the houses are used afterwards to play with.

Living in Canada the costume had to be able to withstand rain (and it did). Everything was made with plastic or foam. The houses were held in place with poscipcles sticks along the back (like an L brace) and then glued into a green foam square.

I used the foam glue to hold it all together. I was worried about the holt glue gun (and I don’t think I could find it). The roof sat on the bottom of the house and just folded over. I got extra long pieces of the black and grey. I used tape and glue on the back to keep it in place. The doors and windows and shutters all glued directly on, and the stairs are 3 layers of foam to make steps.

The three houses were mounted on a heavy cardboard board. A hole was cut into the cardboard so that it fit around the wheelchair and fit into the handle bars. The blue and pink houses sat on either side of my son in his wheelchair and the orange one was between the handle bars behind him. Everything was covered in a green plastic table cloth. It tilted so that my son came up between the houses.

(When we went out trick-or-treating we had a number of people who thought he was a reindeer flying over houses)

For the walker costume we did the same costume, only I wasn’t going to be making up more foam houses. I used plastic dinner plates and cut out the shapes of houses. I used permanent marker to colour the house in. The houses are held up with popsicle sticks glued together on either side and then glued to a cardboard board. I used green painter tape to hold it all in place. And covered it with a green plastic table cloth. 

Everything was tied in place underneath the cardboard and against the back of the walker.

Pirate Ship

What you need:

Black Garbage bags

Blue recycling bags

Large box

Duct tape

Black

Skull and crossbones

Glue gun and glue

White Foam skull decals

Orange foam roll (orange)

Foam squares (yellow, red, blue)

Broom handle

Wire hangers

Pirate flag (or pirate skullcap hat)

Black fabric

Pipe cleaners

Letter decals

Assemby:

Living in Canada, making a Halloween costume that is waterproof is very important. As expected, there was rain on Halloween night and the costume held up great. Looking for materials that could stand up against the rain and still pop with colour. Foam became my new best friend, it was bright, easy to cut and manipulate and could get wet. You can cut it, glue it, colour it.

We found a box that fit over the entire wheelchair and cut out a hole to fit over the seat, with space enough to sit. Covering the wheels meant that my son couldn't move himself, but at the time he didn't show any interest. The box rested on the armrests and sat just above the ground. It stayed in place without anything to strap it in. Cut open up the garbage bags and position the bag so that the top hangs along the bottom of the box. Tape the bags in place along the cut-out hole, we used skull and cross-bone duct tape to hold it in place (duct tape does have latex in it). I also used tape or glue the garbage bags down along the bottom.

I bunched up blue recycling bags up and glue them along the bottom of the box (so that it looks like waves). I used foam to decorate the boat. With a foam roll cut into the shape of the railings, and port holes as well as a skull and crossbones foam decal. I used glue to stick everything onto sides and front. I overlapped the railing so that it sits partly above the box.

With the foam I also cut out a captain's wheel, anchor from foam. I traced and cut out the design first and then outlined it in permanent marker. We had a treasure chest lunch box, so I got fake jewels from the dollar store (and an odd crown or so) and filled the lunch box. To complete the costume we also had a stuffed parrot and a sword.

For a name I added some stick-on letters. The Jolly Wheeler.

For the flag and mast I used a broom stick for the mast. When I first started making the flag we only had a pirate skull-cap I got from the dollar store, but by Halloween we had an actual pirate flag.  It was important for the flag to be ‘flying’ and not just hanging limp, so I used cardboard in the cap to hold it up, and then glued the cap together. 

I cut black fabric for the sails. I cut a hole in the middle so it will fit over the broom handle. The coat hangers, taped in upside down (with the hanger part cut off) held the fabric in place. 

The flag and past sat up against the back of the wheelchair, with a loop made from pipe cleaner that was taped into place.

My son preferred his walker for smaller areas, so I wanted a wheelchair and a walker costume. A lot of the extras from the wheelchair could be moved over and onto the walker ‘ship’. For the walker I cut up a cardboard box. I cut the bottom off of the box, and one end, then I cut a hole in the top of the box, leaving a slight edge. Then covered with black garbage bags, using tape and glue to keep it down. The front of the walker is left open for movement.

To keep the box in place over the walker I cut a line in the centre of the back to hold the lunch bag in place over the back. Using pipe cleaner, and tape I held it in place along the back of the handle and over the front wheels.

I cut out similar shapes to the wheelchair in foam to decorate. The anchor, captain wheel, flag and mast and treasure chest all moved from the wheelchair. I created a spy-glass from a paper towel roll and covered in construction paper. For water we cut up the blue recycling bags.

The Jolly Walker had a little loop from pipe-cleaners to hold the sword and also to help to keep the mast in place.

Wow, thanks for the thorough instructions Amanda! These costumes are great.

Astronaut Wheelchair Costume

You Need:

a large box big enough to fit over wheelchair
a smaller box to use as the front
2 pieces of cardboard to be used as the wings
2 toilet paper holder to use as the jets
paint
tissue paper
duct tape or hot glue

To assemble the spaceship, we had it pretty easy. The box we found to fit over Grey in his wheelchair fit perfectly, so we just needed to make cut outs for his arms. With the second, smaller box, we made the front part of the ship. We cut some extra pieces of cardboard out as the wings and spraypainted the whole thing silver. We then added the two toilet paper holders (that were already spray-painted) to the back. Once the ship was assembled and spray painted, we used blue, red, yellow, and white paint to add the design on the sides. Finish up with a little tissue paper as first and ta-da...a spaceship!

*side-note this was our first try at a wheelchair costume and I learned that it is best to put the duct tape on the inside of the box, or use hot glue. Even when spray-painted the duct tape shows up.

Also, I had to remind myself that this costume was only going to be used for one day and it was just for fun...it's ok if it's not perfect!

That year we also decided to make a jet-pack out of his walker. We spray painted two 2-liters silver and added the tissue paper as fire. We then hot-glued them together and tied them to his walker.

Thank you Leigh from "Our Little Gibblet" for the great costume idea!