How to Make a Dinosaur Costume with Construction Paper and Paper Bags

This project is great for a dinosaur themed unit in a classroom or for one child. You'll make a face mask, a vest for the body, and hands and feet. Supplies you'll need are paper grocery bags, large sheets of construction paper, scissors, paint, paint brushes, and markers.

Start with the dinosaur head. Take a paper grocery bag, flatten it, and push out the creases so that the bottom of the bag is outward, not inward. With the opening facing you, draw zig zags from one edge to the middle of the bag. Cut across both sides of the bag, making a mouth. This will be the teeth and the place where the child will look through to see out of the mask. Draw the rest of the facial features including thin pointy eyes and slits for nostrils. Now paint your dinosaur head. It may need more than one coat.

The next part is the body. Use another paper grocery bag for the dinosaur torso. With the bag lying on a table and the opening facing you, cut only one side of the bag straight to the bottom. Cut a circle out of the bottom. This is where your child's neck will go. Next, cut out two arm holes on the long thin sides of the bag. Let your child paint it.

The dinosaur claws can be cut from construction paper. Draw triangles with tabs at the base of each triangle. When you've drawn thin, they should look like sailboats with tall slender sails and rectangle bottoms. The triangles will be the claws and the tabs will wrap around the child's fingers and taped.

Dinosaur feet are simple. Just take a long piece of construction paper and cut half a circle on one of the short sides. This is the part that will wrap around the ankle and taped at the heel. You can cut out toes on the other short side and let the child color and decorate them.

Once everything has dried, try the costume pieces on your child and let their imagination run wild. If you're planning a classroom project, you'll want to pre-cut the grocery bags and construction paper in advance. This will give your students time to decorate and parade around the room in their costumes.

You may want to lead your class in a dinosaur parade to other classrooms, if it's allowed. Kids love showing off their work and you'll be the coolest teacher or parent ever by allowing them to do such a cool project.