An airplane costume Create your own retro version like ours for pretend play at home—these speedy planes are a source of indoor or outdoor play adventures for children. And, they make unique children's costumes if you are eager to create a handmade Halloween costume for your child too.
There is no right way to make your own airplane costume. Use your creativity, materials you have on hand—or can easily find—and enjoy creating as much as your child will enjoy pretending with their airplane afterwards. We share here how we made ours—
you need
★ cardboard box large enough to fit around your child's waist
★ airplane costume decals—free printables ↓
★ 2 large sheets of foam core (lightweight paper-covered foam sheets) found in craft stores. Cardboard may be used instead.
★ paper fastener (to use as spinner for propeller)
★ glue gun
★ paint
★ scissors
★ glue stick
★ white card stock (or cardboard)
★ ribbon for straps
and a few accessories to accompany the airplane costume
★ safety goggles
(to use as pilot goggles for the costume)
★ a lightweight fabric scarf
to make
Cut the bottom flaps off of a cardboard box that is large enough to fit around your child's waist. Save this cardboard to cut propellers out of for your airplane costume. Open two of the flaps on the top of the cardboard box. These will be the support for your airplane's wings. Cut away the other two flaps. We kept our wings upright and outward by placing a stack of foam core pieces (hot-glued together into a small brick shape, then hot glued on the box) just under the wing flaps. Cut two wing shapes from your foam core and attach to the cardboard box flaps with hot glue. We used blue-colored foam core; but, you could also use white foam core or cardboard you paint to the desired color.
Cut an airplane silhouette (the shape of the sides of an airplane) out of foam core (or cardboard). Use this one as a pattern to cut out another for the other side of your airplane by tracing onto another piece of foam core (or cardboard). Hot glue these pieces to the sides of your cardboard box. Use a glue stick to attach decals to the sides of your plane. I made numbers and a star insignia we added to ours.
For the sloped front of the plane, we used heavyweight paper curved to to the shaped of the plane's silhouette and hot glued underneath. We attached propellers we made from white card stock made to spin with a paper fastener (found in the stationery aisle of most stores or in an office supply store). We covered our paper fastener with a dab of hot glue topped with a red paper circle.
Paint any visible areas of your cardboard box with a paint color (we used bright blue) that matches your airplane sides and wings.
Straps for our costumes were made with ribbon strung through holes poked into the cardboard box. Use wide ribbon (wider than what we used) to distribute the weight of the costume on your child's shoulders.
Now watch your child fly off into imaginary flight with a grand smile of delight with the costume you have made. ©heather cahoon • wordplayhouse®
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