Help Needing to Make a Spider Costume for Daughter Kindergarten Play

For the extra arms, use black panty hose & stuff them. You can get "batting" or "fiber Fill" from any craft store or wal mart.

Attach those extra legs to the black sweatshirt the other mom suggested.

You can thread fishing line up through the arms, from arm-to-arm and attach to the child's sleeve so all the arms move when she moves.

Have fun!

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I saw a cute one online to buy. To mimic it, you could even dress it up a little by using white gloves on the end of each arm including her own hands, I wouldn't worry about her feet. At this time of year especially, you can probably find those stretchy gloves two for a dollar. Then if you can find a top hat she'd be a fancy spider for sure.

http://www.amazon.com/TODDLER-Itsy-Bitsy-Spider-Costume/d...

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

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In the past for spider costumes I've done two options. Both start with what I consider "the base" which is a simple black sweatshirt and black leggings.

I pin on the extra arms.
Method 1) the arms are made of foam pool tubes/floaties that I've painted black.
Method 2) I use pairs of black pantyhose that have been stuffed and either pinned or placed through slits cut into the shirt.
On both, the ends get tied with fishing line strung through up to the child's arms. That way, when one arm is raised, all arms are raised.

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How about black sweats or leotard and tights for the base. For the legs you could use black tube socks stuffed with paper so they will stand out then attack to shirt or leotard. I would do black shoes to go with it. If you don't have black shoes you could put socks over the shoes.
Good Luck

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Hi T.,
I go along with the advice from the other two moms here... black top/pants (hooded sweatshirt would be great), then create four extra arms out of whatever you choose... two on each side and connect them to your daughter's sleeves using fishing line.
Two extra suggestions:
1) When connecting the extra "arms", connect them in several places so that if the fishing line breaks, there are several other connections still intact.
2) I would put some bright color (red, yellow, neon green, whatever) on your daughter's hands, feet, and the ends of the four fake arms. This helps to sort of tie in the idea that they are all legs, and just jazzes up the costume a bit. If she already has some solid color slippers, I'd start with that color and work around it. Otherwise, you could create little "feet" by making a draw-string bag for each foot. On your daughter's actual feet, you could leave the bottom of each draw-string bag unsewn and just drape the bag so that it covers her shoe. That way she wouldn't slip down. (Hope that makes sense!)
Best of luck to you!

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I would have her wear all black(such as black sweatshirt with black leggings) and black gloves. Then you could attach "legs" like black boas/felt strips/long socks. I know there's a neat way to connect the legs so they lift up when she raises her arms, but I don't remember how they do that. I would check www.familyfun.com and www.thriftyfun.com for more suggestions. Good luck!

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We made this spider for a Halloween lawn decoration last year. You can take one of the big lawn trash bags and cut holes for her head and arms, stuff it with crumpled up paper for the body. Then follow the directions to make the 6 trash bag arms. If you tie a peice of string to her wrist and then go down a few inches and tie the string to the next spider arm then go down a few inches to the next spider arm etc.... when she moves her arms the spider arms will move too. You can put her in a black leotard and tights. Here is the link to the craft: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDis...
Hope this helps!

Get a black leotard. And 3 pair of black stockings. Take two pairs, cut off the legs and stuff them with foam. Sew the legs onto the side of the leotard. Next take a few inches of fishing line, attach to the leotard's arm, and attach to one of the stockings legs, the attach some more fishing line to that leg down to the second leg, do again on the other side. You can also buy a few pairs of black gloves, stuff them and add to these "arms" and put another pair of black gloves on your daughter's hands. Then she wears the 3rd pair of black stockings on her legs. It also would be cute to buy a black stocking cap and glue a bunch of those google eyes onto it. Good Luck!

Hey-Just another idea for the legs. Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and they will have black styrofoam insulation pipes. They come in different sizes and lengths. They would be flexible but also keep the "leg" shape, easy to cut, inexpensive. You could then use fishing string or thread to attach them to her black clothes. Good luck. Sounds like fun!

I made a "bug" costume for myself very similar to the spider one Lala linked to below. It was pretty simple. I used black felt for my torso (front and back -- just sewed or glued it together on the shoulders and the sides, leaving spaces for the arms); then used long-sleeved shirts or sweaters or sweatshirts for all the arms (I wore one shirt, and stuffed the arms of the other shirts with quilt batting, which is pretty light and cheap; but you could maybe use your stash of plastic grocery bags to give bulk). Just put the fake arms through the holes you left in the sides of the felt torso and use fishing line or something to string the arms together. Have her wear black pants to coordinate.

Of course, if she doesn't need to be a black spider, you can use brown or whatever other color you want.

Well when I invison a spider costum I came up with this. You could take any old black tank top or tshirt to start with. Some black leggings or jogging pants would be great. Get 6 black stockings or 3 pairs of black panty hose from the dollar store. You could stuff them with just about anything. Tack or sew them onto the shirt and presto. You may also want to pull her hair up if it is long and paint her face black to add for the effect. That is what I would have in mind.

Have you tried Googling it? I have no idea what else to do. Good luck!

I have a spider costume if you want it. My 7 year old wore it once on Halloween. Let me know if you want it.

J.

Hi T.,

I googled "how to make a spider costume" and several things came up. A good one was to have the child wear a black sweatshirt and back tights or pants. Buy 2 sets of dark black tights and cut the top off. Stuff each leg with fiberfil. If you can sew, you can use black fabric and make the legs. Then pin or sew a leg under your child's arm. Use black thread of fishing line to tie your child's arm and the arm underneath together so when she raises her arms, that arm raises too. The child can wear black mittens or gloves, a black hat or paint his/her face black.

There were others so just google so you can choose what you like best. W.

I am looking at one of our spider costumes...dress her in black tights or leggings and black turtle neck. Maybe stuff the body of the shirt of make her look round. take something like tights or long black socks and stuff them (will only need 4 bc her arms and legs will count as the other 4) and attach to her sides equally. You could try some sort of clothes hanger wire or something else strong to make the legs stick out. Our costume has strings attached between the legs so that when you lift your arms all the legs lift together. Then get a black ski hat and put bug eyes on forehead part and antennas on top! Email me if need further input!
____@____.com

I found this link online http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_make-spider-costume.... It doesn't look too hard to do. Good luck!

I haven't seen your other responses, but this is what a friend used for a halloween costume, and she said it was very easy and CHEAP! Black leggings and a black long sleeve shirt, black socks and shoes (she was a black widow with a red violin on her tummy, but it would also work with brown) Then she took black socks and/or black tights and stuffed them with other socks and rags to make the other four legs, then sewed them to the shirt. She attached the stuffed legs to her wrists with black yarn so the legs all moved when she moved her arms. She also wore a black knit cap, but that's because she had red hair! She didn't have to 'stuff' the shirt, but you could probably stuff the shirt part to fluff up the spider body! Hope this helps, good luck!

Get a black (for Charlotte, or brown for other type spider)outfit, sweats would great, but any black long sleeve shirt & pants would work. Get some black materialand make 4 sleeves, or get black shirts from Goodwill and cut the arms off. Get wire coat hangers, unbend them, stick one down each sleeve, stuf the sleeves with anything you have lying around. Bend the sleeves to desired shape to look like spider legs and sew them to the sides of the shirt. You could also stuff a throw pillow up under the back of your daughters undershirt, and tuck it into her pants to make a spider-ish hump. If she indeed Charlotte or other Black Widow, cut out a red hourglass or X shape and sew it to the front of her shirt. Use black (or brown, to match costume) face paint on exposed skin, being careful not to get it too close to the eyes.
The fishline idea others have mentioned is a good addition, I hadn't thought of.
Next we do angel wings... that is coming, you know.
M., mom of 7, grandma of 11, and therefore maker of many cheap costumes :)