Book Week is coming and with it the tradition of finding a last-minute costume for the child to wear to school! Don’t worry – we’ve got a few easy numbers for you to whip up a last minute costume from things you probably already have around the house.

Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd

To create a cat you will need:

• Black leggings and black long sleeved tee
• A pair of opaque black tights to make a tail. Chop one leg off and stuff with toy stuffing or scrunched up toilet paper. Attach to the back waistband of the leggings.
• Some black polar fleece to make the hat. Cut out a long rectangle and fold in half to make a square. Sew the two sides, leaving the bottom open. Sew a diagonal line across each top corner to create the ears.
• An eyeliner to draw on whiskers
• A soft toy that Slinky Malinki has picked up to carry in the mouth (optional).

The Boy With Flowers in his Hair by Jarvis

To create the flowers you will need:

• Different coloured tissue or normal paper to cut out in petal shapes. Stack the tissue paper layers on top of one another. Fold in half and in half again. Cut rounded petal shapes around the open end to make petal shapes. Open it up.
• Pipe cleaners to insert through the middle. Rotate and scrunch the petals to look pretty and sticky tape them to the pipe cleaner if needed. Scrunch up a ball of different coloured tissue paper to make the centre and sticky tape or glue to the pipe cleaner in the centre of the flower.
• Hair pins or a hair band to attach the flowers to hair, or even a beanie could work.
• Visual instructions can be found here.

Your School is the Best by Maggie Hutchings & Felicita Sala

To create a cockroach you will need:

• Cardboard
• Scissors to cut out the cardboard
• A black texta
• Some paint and a roller or paintbrush

Watch this great video that Readings staffer and artist, Pilgrim, created for the CBCA on exactly how to create this costume here.

Polly and Buster by Sally Rippin

To create Polly you will need:

• Stripey leggings
• A dress with a white t-shirt underneath
• Long hair or create a wig with wool. Wig instructions here.
• Eye shadow to darken under the eyes
• A stick or broom handle to make a broomstick and use black wool strands or small twigs sticky-taped to one end.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

To create Pippi Longstocking you will need:

• Some red wool to cut into long strands and glue together to make a wig. Detailed instructions here.
• If the child has long hair you can braid it with pipe cleaners so that you can twist the braids up.
• Some ribbon for the end of the braids
• A dress
• Mis-matched socks
• Brown eyeliner to dot freckles onto the face

Authors Emily Gale and Nova Weetman have put some great costume suggestions for their book Elsewhere Girls that can be found here.

Author Matt Cosgrove has also created some simple cut-outs for his Macca the Alpaca and Dharma the Llama books on his website.

Author Andrew McDonald and illustrator Ben Wood – creators of the Real Pigeons series – have created a tutorial for how to make their character, Rock Pigeon.

We hope you have a fun Book Week and keep in mind that in the end it doesn’t matter about the quality of the costume, it’s really about sharing enthusiasm for books and the joy they bring to our lives!