The school letter day came back home stating that it’s going to be Roald Dahl Day and the boys are to go to school dressed up as one of the book’s character using recycled materials. A quarter of me was deflated with, “Not again……….What are we going to this time and how???” But 75% of me was tingling with excitement as though I am a small kid, “What shall he be???? ” My mind was racing and my fingers were itching for craft work.
Roald Dahl is one of the best writer specializing in children’s book. Imagine that I started reading his collection of books when I was 8 years old and now that I am already turning 30, my kids are also introduced to his books, that should give you an idea of how popular and well known this author is.
My favourite character is the Roly-Poly Bird (the most beautiful bird with the most colorful tail). So I sort of influenced him b my boy to be the Roly-Poly Bird by telling him what a heroic bird the Roly-Roly Bird is.
Roly-Poly Bird
Roly Poly Bird in The Enormous Crocodile
I googled and came across this and was totally inspired by Mummy Sas. With that we started with our grand plan. It is always good to draw out what you have visualised as a guide but along the way there will always be changes.
To do this project, all you need is to let your imagination run wild and look around the house. Chances are you will find unused coloured papers, out grown belts, cardboard, fabrics and of course we purchased some coloured feathers. 🙂
The Roly Poly Bird Costume Master Plan
The Mask
The 1st thing we did is the mask. I measured his face, drew it out and helped him with the colours. It took me a couple of hours.
The Facial Detailing Process
The Mask is done!
The Wings and Arm Guard
Next was the wings, I drew out the wings on a cardboard, cut it out, made the holes for rubber band. My hubby is the one who is good with the needle work, so he was the one who secured the bands. My boy had to stick the base and he decorated the wings with the help of my sister. It took us two weekends to complete the wings. The initial thought was use to use post-its but I reckon we do not have enough (and its expensive too) to go around and we used crepe paper instead.
The Wings
The arm feather guard
The arm feather guard was made using some fabric, secured with velcro and we stick on the feathers with fabric glue.
The tail was made using an old belt. we stuck strips of coloured papers to have a long, fuffly tail. I made a last minute feather necklace for him, so he wouldn’t look too plain and we decided to use a basket of strawberries (Roly-Poly Bird’s favourite food is the berries) as the prop.
The Final Product
For more details on how to make the Roly-Poly Bird Costume check out my blog at myhalfcupoflife.wordpress.com
