Transform into your very own dragon from your favourite fairytale! This activity is fun for anyone and everyone, but pre-school children will especially enjoy this! With this craft, you will be able to explore your imagination and extend your pretend play even further! Have fun dressing up with this DIY costume piece and explore your very own fairytale landscape!
Supplies:
Construction paper (any colours!)
Glue (liquid or glue stick)
Scissors
Tape
Pencil or pen
Markers (optional)
Activity Steps:
Before we begin, make sure your workspace is clean and ready to go with all of your supplies placed on a flat surface. If you will need help, make sure to have an adult nearby!
Step 1: Place one piece of your construction paper on the flat surface. I chose to use green, but you can choose any colour that you like! Make sure that the short sides of the paper are at the top and the bottom, and the long sides of the paper on at the right and left.
Step 2: First we are going to make stripts of paper that will become our headband. Using your pen or pencil, draw lines from the top of the sheet of paper to the bottom. These lines are going to separate the paper into sections—these sections can be as thin or thick as you like!
Tip: If you like, you can use a ruler to make these lines super straight, but they do not have to be!
Step 3: Next, we are going to cut the paper into strips. Use your scissors to cut along the lines that you have drawn. If you need help using the scissors or cutting this out, ask an adult for help!
Step 4: Now that we have cut out our strips of paper, we are going to use them to make the structure of our headband. The strips are going to wrap around your head to fit snugly like a hat! Take two strips of your paper and connect the ends using a piece of tape. Wrap the other ends around and tape them together to form a circle.
Step 5: Now we are going to make the tail section of our dragon hat—this section will reach from the very front of your hat, over your head, and then down your back. Take several strips of your construction paper and use a piece of tape to attach one end of each piece to the other. Now you will have one long strip. I chose to only use three strips of paper for this, but if you want to make your tail longer, you can tape together more strips of paper!
Step 6: Next we are going to make our dragon scales or spikes! Take a piece of your construction paper and fold it in half the short way (a hamburger fold!). I chose to make my scales purple, but you can choose any color you would like! Once you have folded the paper, rotate it so that the folded edge is at the bottom (closest to you), and the open edge is at the top.
Step 7: Now, using your pen or pencil, you are going to draw triangle shapes. These will become your spikes. Use the folded edge of the paper as the base of your triangles, so that the point of the triangle is pointing towards the top. You can make these triangles as big or small as you like! Repeat these steps to make as many spikes as you like!
Step 8: Next we are going to cut out these spikes! Use your scissors to follow the lines that you have drawn and cut out the shape that you have made, but leave the base of the triangle folded. If you need help cutting this out, ask an adult for help! Once cut out, you can unfold the triangles and they will look like a diamond shape.
Step 9: Now you get to use your imagination and decorate your spikes! Use your markers to decorate your spikes in any way that you choose—do you want to draw stripes, flowers, squiggly lines? It can be anything! I chose to decorate my spikes with polka dots!
Step 10: Now we are going to attach the spikes to our tail section! Lay your long strip out on your flat surface. Unfold the spikes that you made, so that they look like diamonds. Lay the spikes out along the tail. Place glue along the centre of each spike, and glue each to the tail section. Press and hold for 20-30 seconds to allow time for the glue to dry!
Step 11: Once the glue has dried, you are going to flip the tail section over. Next, you are going to fold each of the spikes up and around to make a 3D spike. Bring the two points of the triangles up to meet each other in the middle. Glue the points together and press and hold for 20-30 seconds to let the glue dry. Repeat this for each of your spikes!
Step 12: Once the glue has dried, we are ready to attach the tail section to the paper circle headband that we made earlier! Place your paper circle flat on your surface. Take one end of the tail section and attach it to the side of the paper circle with a piece of tape. Arch the tail section over and tape it to the back of the paper circle. Now you should have a top section to your hat, and a section of your tail that will trail down your back!
Step 13: Now you are all finished! Put on your dragon hat and see where adventure takes you!
~Made by Wren