For World Book Day, Cici was very excited to make his ‘Super Sloth’ Costume. As with Ioan’s Humming Fish (from The Lorax) costume, we told Cics that if he didn’t want to repurpose any of our fancy dress costumes, he had to make his own.
These were the resources he gathered. I wasn’t entirely sure what the end goal was, so waited for it to unfold.
Making the mask
First, Cian coloured the orange eye of the skeleton mask. He tried with a marker pen, but wasn’t satisfied with the result, so swapped to a black paint stick.
Once he was happy with the coverage around the eye socket, he drew a circle around each eye, “Look, it does make it look all slothy!”
Next up, he aded some black patches on the cheeks, a round black nose and a mouth.
Once he’d finished, Cici’s smile was as big as his sloth’s.
Making sloth claws
Cici knew how he wanted to make his claws, but didn’t know what to use to make them. Finny listened to his description and came back with this foam material.
Cics: “Hmm that’s very good, but sloths don’t have black claws. They are pale. Like a whitey cream colour… I know, I’ll paint the claws on in white. That should work!”
And that’s what he did.
Trying the claws on for size and then cutting them out.
Sewing the claws on
Cian had found an old grey hoodie that he wanted to sew things on to, inspired by the shark hoodie here. I tied the knot to start him off, then he slowly and steadily sewed the claws on.
Sewing the mask on
Cici’s final job was sewing the mask to the hood.
Making the capes
Cian thought he may look like a sloth, but not Super Sloth. He had the idea to use one of our blue play scarves and some ‘sticky circle tape’ (velcro stickers) to make a cape.
First he made a cape for Slothy, to show me what he was planning to do.
Then Cici made his own cape… easier said than done with big claws.
“The last one that needs one is the baby.”
DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)
Expressive arts and design
ELG 16 – Exploring and using media and materials:
Children safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
ELG 17 – Being imaginative:
Children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.
