HIT: ELEM: Book Character Dress Up

[Kathy Hutton <khutton@pen.k12.va.us>]

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions for "Book Character Dress Up
Day" in our
Primary School.  I got the following (wonderful) suggestions:

-- Is ["My Great-Aunt Arizona"] liked by your kids?
-- How about Pippi Longstocking? -- Raggedy Anne/Andy
-- Madeline
-- nursery rhyme characters like Mother goose or Little Bow Peep,
Fairytale characters
like little red riding hood, Alice in Wonderland, Raggedy Ann

--Amelia Bedelia.   All you need is a black dress, white apron, and a
black hat with a
turned up rim.  (or flowers on a headband) and a purse.  Buy some little
yellow and white silk flowers at a hobby shop and hot glue them to the
brim.

-- Barthomew Cubbins (Seuss) shorts with suspenders, shirt, knee socks,
and a fancy hat.
--Menolly from The Dragon Singer (McCaffrey).  she was an apprentice
harper. Harpers
wore blue so I thought blue pants tucked into boots, and blue shirt and
a blue sash.  I'd carry some sheet music and a recorder.

I've always wanted to do a whole wardrobe of Miss Frizzle's from the
Magic School Bus.
There are many print fabics with theme designs out there, but I've no
time to sew!

-- Pooh or Piglet -- [Assuming the emperor, from The Emperor's New
Clothes, is out of
the question (hey, it would be different and easy...!], They are popular
with this age
group; their shirts should be easy to replicate, and masks are
commercially available.
(Oh, boy, I do trust you understand I was just goofing above.)

--Arteu. I once dressed up as the character in _The Never-ending Story_
He had green
skin and a purple buffalo robe cape. That was fun.
--One of our K teachers suggested the woman who swallowed a fly.  She
was going to
have an apron-type dress with a picture of a horse on the top layer.
Lift that and there would be a cow(?) etc. down to the fly.

-- Stella Luna is easy.  We used black headbands and hot glued on bat
ears (triangles of
inexpensive black fabric) then we made capes by cutting out semi-circles
with jagged
edges and hot gluing on ribbon for the ties.  We had lots of moms help
with glue guns.

-- Henry and Mudge...if you can find a stuffed dog that looks like
"Mudge" you could be
"Henry."

-- I've been keeping my eyes open for a good yellow hat (Curious George)
for a long
time... tall boots and stuffed monkey would be easy.

-- Harold and the Purple Crayon?  A white shirt and pants, a large
purple crayon . . .

-- Little Red Riding Hood (James Marshall)  I used an old red tablecloth
draped over my
head, and any clothing underneath.  I carried a basket with pretty cloth
napkin in it.

--Viola Swamp (Miss Nelson is Missing)    I wear a loose black dress, a
ribbon around
my neck, old cloppy shoes. It's the makeup that makes it. Nice red cheek
circles, lipstick up to my nose and in a narrow path,hair in two
pigtails, and a well-placed beauty mark.

-- How about Lily with a purple plastic purse.  One of my friends has us
hunting for a
purple plastic purse so she can do that.

--Cat in the Hat with black sweats, a wide red ribbon around your neck,
and a striped hat

-- The Very Grouchy Ladybug.  I made a cape of red felt with black dots
glued on it,
black pants and a black turtleneck underneath and made antennae  using a
headband,
black pipe cleaners, and big black pompoms glued to the pipe cleaners.
--Cruella Deville--fur coat, etc., and another teacher came dressed as
one of the thieves--with a large bag full of stuffed dalmations.
--Ira (Ira Sleeps Over)--dressed in pajamas and robe and carrying a
teddy bear.

-- a Dalmation from 101 Dalamtions.  I wore white clothes with black
construction paper
"spots" with whiskers, etc.  Or...the kids painted white t-shirts with
black dots, and made black construction paper ears that were hair-pinned
on either side of their heads.
--  Strega Nona.  Don an apron, kerchief on your head, carry around a
kettle with some
cooked spaghetti in it and a wooden spoon.  Another suggestion for the
outfit:  I wear a
pink skirt with a white apron, lighter pink top with a brown or grey
vest, a red cap and
white scarf on my head. I carry a black pot with me.

-- The Paper Bag Princess. ( Robert Munsch)  I used brown paper and made
it to look like
a bag.  A few smudges and messed up hair and you are the princess.

--  Swamp Angel. I borrowed a pioneer woman's skirt and bonnet from a
friend and
went barefoot.  About as easy as it could get.

--the lady with the alligator purse!!  Love the poem and book now just
have to get to
goodwill for a large old purse and some green felt and maybe I can come
up with an
alligator.

--How about dressing up as Arthur or who is the little girl Monkey who
wears a baseball
cap? ... a baseball cap sounds easy.

Once again, thanks to all.
Kathy Hutton, LMS
David A. Harrison Elementary
khutton@pen.k12.va.us