Space Shuttle

Blast off in this awesome costume!

What you need:

White Foam Board (approx 5 sheets)

Black Foam Board (1 sheet)

Exacto knife

Glue Gun

Black Duct tape

Black Permanent marker

Styrofoam cones

Black Spray Paint

Assembly:

Start off by finding a picture of a space shuttle.  You will likely learn more than you ever wanted to know about the contours of that machine!  Like any wheelchair costume, there will be some trial and error as you adapt the costume to work with your particular chair and child and it helped me to look at a few different ideas.

I started my making the sides of the shuttle.   Using two pieces of foam board, I played around with different ways to fit it between the sides of my son’s wheelchair and the wheels.  It was a little tight, but I finally settled on cutting a rectangular notch to secure the foam board over the brakes.  I also could have cut a notch to fit it over the axles, but felt it was secure enough over the axles.  I then trimmed the foam board down so that it would be low enough for my son would be able to reach his wheels.

I then cut a triangular wedge out of the top front end of each side to approximate the rounded contour of the front windows.  I measured and cut out another piece of white foam board to make the front window.  I secured it to each side with hot glue.  I made the black front window using the duct tape and wrapped it around a little to the sides.

The front nose was a little tricky.  I ended up cutting three triangles of black foam board.  Two of the triangles matched up the edge of the side of the shuttle and I then came together in the front.  The length of these triangles should be the distance that you want the nose cone to come out -  I suggest measuring for this step instead of eyeballing ;)  The third matched up the bottom of the front window and came down to meet the two triangles.  Using duct tape, I secured the side triangles first and the placed the top triangles.

Then I made the wings and rudder.   Initially, I made two fantastic to-scale wings that went almost the length of the shuttle.  However they would have blocked the wheels and part of the fun of having a space shuttle the ability to zoom around it in, so I had to drastically reduce their size so that they would fit behind the wheels.  (The little boy in my first inspiration picture looks like he was using a power chair, so long wings made perfect sense for his costume.)   Once I settled on a size, I decorated with black marker and NASA, USA and flag printouts.  For the rudder, I couldn't  think of a simple way to make the one rudder, so I settled on cutting out two trapezoids to approximate the look.  I colored in the details with the black marker and hot glued on.

The last step in the structure was to cut out a black piece for the back and secure it to the sides with duct tape.  I spray painted three styrofoam craft cones to make the after burners. I cut holes in the back piece and foam and secured with glue and duct tape.

I got the astronaut costume and helmet off of Amazon.  One of the unintended benefits of the helmet was that it gave my son, a preschooler, a nice place to hide when the attention got to be a little too much.

TMNT Assault Van

The inspiration:

What you need:

2 cardboard boxes
Cardboard rolls(wrapping paper & paper towels)
Paint
Glue gun
Tin foil
Zip ties

Assembly:
I used one box that fit perfectly over the wheelchair. I flipped the flaps up and glued the two shorter ends at an angle. This gave the me a little extra height with just one box. The other box I cut up and used it for different parts. I put two pieces on each side of the box to make the sides taller and then one on top the enclose he van. I cut a flap on top to make the opening, along with a circle for the top globe window. Once it was all glued together I painted the whole thing green.

I used the cardboard rolls to make the ladder, bar up the side of the windshield and for the wench. The lights, mirrors, wench hook, and tires were all cut from the extra cardboard. And painted accordingly. The tin foil is wrapped around the mirrors to make the mirror effect. I used a picture of a toy I found online to paint the details. Then I used the zip ties to attach it to the wheelchair.

Thanks Allison! This is amazing! Turtle Power!

Mr. Rogers Trolley

Major cuteness alert!

What you need:

One ginormous cardboard box.

Spray paint. Red for the inside, top, and front of the trolley.

Paint samples (Red, Yellow, & Black). 

Six thin wooden dowels (about 2 feet long each). 

Glue gun. You MUST have a glue gun for this project.

A caving headlamp for the trolley’s headlight. 

Assembly:

I cut the body of the trolley out, then the oval shaped roof and a strip of cardboard for the yellow sign on top. Then I cut two pieces for the front and the back (squares with a rounded top). I can’t give details on how I got it to fit on the chair. I really had to play with it and ended up using the wheelchair’s push bar to anchor the thing and keep it from flopping around. See what works. Measure a bit. You can do it. 

I wanted to paint the exterior by hand to get it right. I knew I wouldn’t need much paint so I just bought three samples from Lowes. I got red to match the spray paint, black for the stripe along the base, and yellow for the trolley seats and sign.

I used the dowel rods to stabilize the sides of the trolley. You can see them glued vertically on the inside. They kept the sides from bowing out (due to the weight of the roof and trolley sign).

Add your lettering and headlamp. Done!

Thank you Mary Evelyn for sharing this adorable creation! Simeon makes the perfect Mr. Rogers.

Jeep (aka Createrra).

I'm calling this a Jeep just to make it more generic...but it's technically the Createrra from Caleb's most favorite show "Wild Kratts".

This was my inspiration.

What you need:

Cardboard (lots of it)

Paper towel tubes/Gift Wrap tubes

Spray paint

Assorted craft paint (I used blue, green, and brown)

Reflectors

Black posterboard for the wheels

LED push lights (I found them in the night light section)

Paper plates or posterboard

Foam for the bumpers (you can use something else, I just happened to have foam)

Assembly:

First I cut cardboard to make the 4 sides and hood of the jeep. It's basically a rectangle shape, super easy design. I spray painted all the pieces before I hot glued them together.

I cut smaller/angled pieces of cardboard to attach to the hood so it has a raised look in the middle. I used gift wrap paper tubes to make the front and back roll bars. I cut them to fit together and then hot glued them to make a solid piece. I painted the front bars to match the jeep and the back bars I painted black.

I used a manila folder that I cut to fit over the angled cardboard on the front to complete the hood. I printed off the Wild Kratts logo and added it to the back and the top of the hood. I used reflectors for the back brake lights. I bought LED push lights for the headlights. I added a square of black paper to the front for the grill. The front and back bumpers were black foam pieces that I happened to have. I painted them silver. I added a small square of cardboard (painted black) to the rear of the jeep.

The wheel covers were cut from black posterboard. I spray painted the back of 2 plates silver for the rim of the wheel. I added some squares and circles cut from black paper.

Since this is technically the Createrra from Wild Kratts, I had to make it look just right. I used brown paint to look like mud. I used green and blue paint for the paw prints.  We had to remove the front roll bars...they were in Caleb's way :)

This could be customized so many different ways. It's a really basic shape that you can do a million things with!

I also made the costumes. I bought black v-neck tshirts and cut off the sleeves to make it look more like a vest. I used blue/green felt for the creature power suit design. I did the same thing for the gloves. I found the creature power discs online, printed them out and then laminated them. They stuck to the creature power suits with velcro. I made the small pouch for the discs out of felt. I made a creature pod using a piece of cardboard that I painted blue. I found the picture online and printed it out. Added a couple of buttons and a strap for the wrist. 

You can see more photos by going to our family blog. 

Captain America

What you need:
(Total Cost to create $15 and about two hours of time)
Red, white and blue crafters paint
Metallic silver crafters paint
Foam brushes
Hot glue gun
Poster board (5 sheets)
Red, orange and yellow tissue paper
Pinwheels
Zip ties
Scissors
Stapler

Assembly:

I used different sized pot lids to make the circles for Captain Americas Shield.  Traced the outlines of the circles and painted them according to photos of the actual shield I found online.  Painted each shield and then hot glued them to an extra larger circle to give them more support.  They were hole punched in three locations and secured with zip ties to the wheels of the wheelchair.

The exhaust pipes were made with rolled up poster board, hot glued to maintain shape and then stapled to the second tube.  I used two tubes on each safety bar and painted with metallic crafting paint.  The tubes were made wide enough to fit over the anti-tipping guards and the guards were turned up to attach the exhaust.  I them stuffed the tubes with the colored tissue paper to give it a flame appearance.

Behind the wheelchair I attached my sons real Captain America shield using ribbon to be able to take it on and off when he wanted to use the shield.

Lastly to add a little pizzazz, I added red, white and blue pinwheels to the front.  They were attached with hot glue.

I love the simplicity of this costume! This is proof that you can create something really fun and amazing with just a few supplies and a couple of hours. It's perfect Kerri, thanks for sharing Jarrett's costume with us!

Hello Kitty Car

Prepare for some serious cuteness folks!

What you need:

Cardboard
Posterboard (pink, white & black)
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Spray paint (2 pink, 1 white, 1 red)
Zip ties
2 Dowel rods

Assembly:

First we sketched a design of one side of the car on cardboard (measuring approx length we wanted using wheelchair).  Repeat for the other side and measure to cut out pieces of cardboard for the front and back of the car.  We used small bowls to sketch circles on black poster board for the wheels & then cut them out.  Then sketched smaller circles on white poster board that were glued inside the black circles.  The cardboard was spray painted pink and was glued together.  The small red bows for the wheels, mirrors, door handles, tail lights were cut out of white posterboard and painted red.  The large red bow on her chair was cut out of cardboard and spray painted.  The eyes and whiskers on front were cut out of black posterboard. White posterboard was folded and painted pink for the ears. Use white posterboard for the nose & color it yellow.  We found pages in a Hello Kitty coloring book, colored them & cut out to glue on the doors and back.  The license plate was cardboard with a piece of posterboard glued to it.  A dash was also made out of a piece of cardboard and a steering wheel cut out of posterboard was attached!  White posterboard was used as the front fender and can be used for the bumper (we ran out of posterboard so painted cardboard for the bumper).  The car sat over the wheelchair and had a dowel rod attached to the cardboard to keep it in place in the back.  it was then zip tied to the handle bar.  A dowel rod was split in half, taped & glued to the cardboard and used to zip tie to each side of her wheelchair in the front.

A lot of this is up to you and what you want on it and have around the house to make work!

Seriously adorable! Thank you Casey for sharing Kinley's costume with us!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

What you need:

Foam mats (colored bottoms) *I bet you could also use cardboard for this*

4 yellow, 1 green

Colored tape (yellow, green)

Spray paint

Green, orange, blue, purple, red, silver

Black permanent marker

Foam glue

Red cups

Foam sheets

Light blue, dark blue, white

Assembly:

Trying to find colorful material that is also waterproof is a bit of a challenge. Old foam mats gave us a great surface that can be glued and painted and cut up. The back of the mat has a colorful and smooth surface that holds the paint very well. It is also the perfect size to fit on a walker.

The pieces of the mat fit together into a cube shape. Each side of a cube and held together with the top (green). The sides can be glued together, and the part that sticks out can be cut so that you can tape over a smooth surface. Yellow duct tape holds the sides in place without being too obvious on the mat. The wheels and the center part can be cut out.

The roof can be reinforced with green tape (duct tape or painters tape). The Shell Raiser is a subway car. So paint subway doors and windows, and I got wood-colored strips to cover the windows. The paint holds well on the foam, to make straight lines, tape up what you want to paint and spray over it. The whited needed 4 coats, and then silver two coats.

The subway car is covered in graffiti. The graffiti used the 4 turtle colors, and writing. If you put the graffiti on after you have taped it together then the graffiti will help to hide the tape. But make sure you have everything taped up.

To help the graffiti pop out, we outlined the words in black permanent marker.  We wrote “Turtle Power” on one side and “TMNT” on the opposite side. The turtle colors covered each corner of the car, overlapping to the front of the subway car, the colors were opposite on the other side so that all 4 colors show at the front.

The back has blue rocket boosters (with blue flames cut from foam sheets), and red bumpers, made from red cups that are glued together and taped on. The SHELL RAISER sign went on the back as well, with glue to hold in place. To help to hold the Shell Raiser in place, a hole was cut into the back to hold the basket of the walker in place.

The ramming bumper at the front is held in place with a wire and a cut up pool noodle, covered in white foam. The rocket launcher is a marshmallow shooter held in place by a cut-out in the roof. Wires also hold the front in place over the wheels

For some graffiti at the front I wrote Booyakasha and Cowabunga, both things that Michaelango yells.

TMNT Manhole Cover for Wheelchair

What you need:

Cake pan

Large aluminum foil

Letters

Foam

Grey paint (light and dark)

Assembly:

I glued foam strips onto a cake pan. I tried a couple of different designs to see what I wanted to use. I got a pack of letters to make up the NYC SEWER and glued them in place. I cut the edges off that overlapped.

The aluminium foil covered the cake pan. I found that the letters for the sewer didn’t stand out enough so I put on 2 layers of foil. Gently press between the foam and around the letters.

 

To help it to stand out more, use the grey paint. With the darker grey went in the middle and the lighter color went over the letters. It doesn’t have to be neat, and if the aluminum foil breaks, don’t worry.

The sewer grate sits over the wheelchair handles so that it overlaps over the head.

Another great costume for both walker and wheelchair by Amanda! Thanks for always sharing your awesome creations with us. I love the manhole cover. It looks awesome.

You can see more step-by-step instruction for creating a manhole cover by clicking here.