Let's Play - Easy DIY CBeebies character costume ideas

Busy lives and last-minute requests from your little ones can mean you have to pull a costume together with very little time and using bits from around the house. If you’ve found that an event such as World Book Day or Halloween has rolled around all too quickly, here are a few quick and easy character costume ideas from CBeebies programmes that started out as children’s books.

What you need:

• 6 – 8 metres of green tulle
• 3 – 4 metres green ribbon
• Green t-shirt
• Leggings

Instructions:

• Measure your child from armpit to knees (or longer, depending on the length you want)
• Cut the tulle into strips that are twice as long as your measured length and around 8cm wide
• Measure out a length of ribbon so that it fits around your child’s chest and leave another 30cm for a bow at the back
• Take a piece of tulle and fold it in half so that it’s the length you want the dress to be, take the ribbon and position it just beneath the loop at the top of the dress (step 1). Loop the two ends of the tulle through the loop at the top creating a knot (step 2)
• Continue knotting the strips of tulle onto the ribbon until you have enough to go around your little one (step 3)
• Take the rest of the ribbon and tie a bow high on your child’s waist to create the perfect Tinkerbell dress!

Hints and tips:

• Using two different colours of green tulle looks particularly pretty
• Try to loop the tulle over the ribbon in the same direction each time, so that the knots all look the same
• If you have enough time try adding some fairy ears

What you’ll need:

• Octonauts Kwazii puppet instructions and template
  
• Elastic
• Glue
• A craft knife or very sharp pointed scissors
• Orange paint, felt tip marker pens, crayons
• An orange top and orange trousers

Instructions:

• Download the instructions and template. The activity has the list of materials you need to make the mask. You won't need bottle tops or the black sock.
• Using the craft knife or scissors, cut two eye holes in the plate. Cut the bottom half of the plate in an arc shape so your child’s mouth can be seen.
• Paint Kwazii’s face as described in the activity sheet
• While the face is drying, cut out Kwazii’s ears, hat and mouth from the template. To make them look really great, trace the paper cut-outs on to card and cut them out.
• Colour in the paper cut-outs using felt tips or crayons. Glue the paper on to the card cut-outs
• When the main face of the mask is dry, glue Kwazii’s hat, ears and nose to the mask. Using either felt tips or black paint, draw on Kwazii’s whiskers.
• Cut a length of elastic to fit your child’s head. Make a small hole on both sides of the mask, thread a length of elastic through it and tie it on.

Hints and tips:

• If your paper plates are lightweight, sticking two together makes the mask sturdier.
• We made the "eye patch" by heavily outlining Kwazii's left eye in black paint - then just drawing a slanted line across his forehead!

What you’ll need:

Peter Rabbit:

• Brown trousers
• A blue jacket or hoodie
• 1.5 metres of brown satin ribbon (should be at least 2cm wide)
• White and brown and paint

Lily Bobtail:

• White and black paint
• A pink dress and cardigan
• 1.5 metres of pink satin ribbon (should be at least 2cm wide)

For both:

• White and red paint
• White card
• Crayons, felt tip marker pens, or paint
• A headband
• Craft glue 
• Bunny ears template (loads of free ones available online)
• Cotton wool balls

Instructions:

• Trace your bunny ears onto card if using a template (or just freestyle it) 

Peter Rabbit:

• Mix the brown paint with a little bit of the white to make a soft brown colour. Paint the ears brown and leave to dry. Mix red and white paint to make a soft pink. 
• If you are steady with a paint brush, paint the inside of the ears pink. To make your bunny's ears really stand out, use a second printed template to make the inside of the ears - simply cut down a smaller version of the ears, trace onto card, paint, and then glue into the onto the set of ears you’ve just painted.

Lily Bobtail: 

• Mix black and white paint together until you get a soft grey colour. (You only need a tiny amount of black paint!). Follow the same instructions for Peter. Draw or stencil a flower onto a piece of card. Colour the flower pink using crayons, felt tips, or paint.
• To make the headbands: dot a bit of glue to the opaque side of the ribbon and stick it to the underside of the headband. Keeping the ribbon taut, wind it around the headband. As you wind the ribbon around the headband, don’t forget to secure the ribbon with a dot of glue at various intervals. Your last dot of glue will be when you reach the end of the headband. Cut off any excess ribbon. Use brown for Peter; pink for Lily. Leave to dry.
• To attach the ears: fold the bottoms of ears under the headband and attach them with glue.
• To make the cotton tails: Cut a circle out of card. Glue cotton wool balls to the circle. Cover the cotton balls with glue and add a second later of cotton balls.
• Attach the tails with saftey pins or sticky tack.

Hints and tips:

• If you are have loads of time on your hands or if you are a craft whizz, try making the ears using felt. For a real 'wow' factor, use fake fur to line the insides of the ears.
• If you can knit, why not knit a fluffy cotton tail?
• Lightly pull apart the top layer of the cotton wool to give the tail a fluffier appearance
• Wide bridal headbands work really well for this make. You can find them in most craft shops or online. They are covered in white fabric and are lightly padded, and will be more comfortable for your little one to wear. You will also have an easier time attaching the ribbon to the headband as it's non-slip.

N.B. This one can also double up as Mog, Six Dinner Sid, Slinky Malinki etc...

What you’ll need:

• White, red, and black paint
• White card
• A headband
• 1.5 metres of black satin ribbon (should be at least 2cm wide)
• An old pair of black tights
• Craft glue 
• Cat ears template (there are many available online)
• Cotton wool balls
• A black long sleeve top, black trousers or leggings, white gloves and white trainers

Instructions:

• Download and print a copy of the cat ears template. There should be templates for the outside and the insides of the ears
• Trace the ears onto card
• Paint the outside ears black and leave to dry. Mix the red and white ears until you get a vivid shade of pink. Paint the insides of the ears pink
• To make the headband: dot a bit of glue to the opaque side of the ribbon and stick it to the underside of the headband. Keeping the ribbon taut, wind it around the headband. As you wind the ribbon around the headband, don’t forget to secure the ribbon with a dot of glue at various intervals. Your last dot of glue will be when you reach the end of the headband. Cut off any excess ribbon. Leave it to dry.
• To attach the ears: fold the bottoms of ears under the headband and attach them with glue
• To make Jess’ tail: Cut off one leg of the tights. Stuff the leg with old socks, fabric, or any other soft material you have on hand. Knot the end of the tights.
• Paint the tip of the tail with white paint. Alternatively, you can glue cotton wool balls to the end of the tail
• Attach the tail with a safety pin or just tuck it into the back of your child's trousers/skirt 

Hints and tips:

• If you are have loads of time on your hands or if you are a craft whizz, try making the ears using felt. For a real 'wow' factor, use fake fur to line the insides of the ears. 
• Wide bridal headbands work really well for this make. You can find them in most craft shops or online. They are covered in white fabric and are lightly padded, and will be more comfortable for your little one to wear. You will also have an easier time attaching the ribbon to the headband as it is non-slip.

What you’ll need:

Charlie:

• A white short -sleeved t-shirt layered over a coloured long sleeve t-shirt
• Black fabric paint 
• A stencil in the font Cooper Black or similar. There are many free stencils available online to download (just search "Cooper Black Stencil")
• Jeans with turn-ups and bright canvas trainers

Lola:

•  Lola's style is all about being bright and bold! 
• A bright dress in stripes, flowers or geometric prints
• Bright tights
• Bright shoes
• Bright blue hair clips

Instructions for Charlie's top:

• Download and print the stencil
• Place the stencil on a bit of cardboard and position the whole thing under the white t-shirt.
• Carefully outline Charlie using the fabric paint or fabric marker. Leave to dry overnight

Hints and tips:

• For a more elaborate Lola costume, try adding an imaginary friend - draw an outline of your child on big paper, cut out and attach to cardboard. Paint or colour a black and grey jumper and trousers onto the figure. Cut out. Draw Lola’s face onto the character and you’ve made Soren Lorensen!
• Fabric paint works best for Charlie's top - if you have a very steady hand, however, you could use fabric markers.
• If you are pressed for time, you can always use iron-on letters! You can find them in most fabric shops. 

What you’ll need:

• Cream or white knit jumper
• Green and yellow tartan skirt
• Wellies
• Fabric paint in blue

Instructions:

• Create Katie’s signature jumper by drawing on the zig-zag pattern along the neckline using the fabric paint
• Accessorise with a brown satchel or cute teddy bear

Hints and tips:

• A plaid shirt could double up as a skirt! Button up the shirt and secure the shirt around the waist using the sleeves. Any lumps and bumps from the knot will be covered up by the wooly jumper.
• If you can’t find a tartan skirt or shirt, try a plain blue or green skirt with yellow squares sewn or glued on

• Two children (or just one for a Tim or a Topsy!)
• A blue and white striped t-shirt
• A red spotty top
• Two red hair bobbles
• Jeans

Do you need to make a costume for your kids next dress up party? Find the best kids costume ideas, along with instructions on how to make them easily yourself. From fairies to dinosaurs, a unicorn headband or space helmet to an astronaut or pirate.

Dress in blue or orange and use the Bluey and Bingo masks template to complete the look for a quick costume idea.

What you’ll need:

• Mask template
• Sticky tape
• Scissors
• Ribbon

Dress as Duggee with this simple mask that you can make yourself! Watch Ben and Dodge from CBeebies explain this costume craft idea.

What you’ll need:

• Sticky tape
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Cup
• Pencil
• Beaker
• Small bowl
• Shoe
• Lollipop stick
• Headband
• Coloured card

Easy DIY costume ideas for kids and babies 

DIY Dinosaur fancy dress ideas

Discover more World Book Day fun and quizzes on CBeebies.