Homemade Halloween Costume - How To Make A Dinosaur Costume

My three year old grandson, Jack, wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween...not just any dinosaur, Jack wants to be a Spinosaurus.

I looked online for ideas, but all I could find were cutesy dinosaurs... sew some triangles down the back of a hoodie and add a tail to the bottom.  Jack doesn't want to be "cute"... Jack wants to be scary.

I LOVE creating Halloween costumes and was excited to take on the challenge.  A couple of people online suggested using foam to create a dinosaur head...so  I bought a 46 x 70 piece of 1 1/4" foam ( I ended up using about 1/2 of it), got an old bike helmet, and got to work.

I couldn't be happier with the results!!

Want to make a dinosaur costume for Halloween?  Here's how I did it....

Dinosaur Head

Using scissors or a serrated knife, cut out a 16" x 22" piece of foam. 

Round off one end.

Measure down 14" from straight end, and cut a 3" slit on both sides.

Cut two more slits (on rounded end) as shown in picture.

 

Bending all the pieces and attaching them together forms the top of your dinosaur head.

Start by hand sewing section A to section B.  (A should overlap B)

Next, attach section C to section B.  (C should overlap B)

Next, attach the remaining side sections (D & E) to the rounded section.

 

 

Hot glue the top head section to a bike helmet.

 

 

 

 

Cut out a 9" x 18" piece of foam for bottom of mouth.

Round off corners at one end.

Cut out a 5" x 7" opening at straight end.  (This is where child's neck goes.)

Cut out a 3.5" x 45" piece of foam for side of mouth.

Hand sew the two pieces of foam together.   Side piece should be on outside of mouth piece, not on top of it. 

 

 

Hot glue the mouth piece to the top of the head.  This gets a little tricky.  You have to glue it to both the foam and to the helmet.  If you have any glue gun experience at all, you know this is where the cursing begins.   After the bottom was glued on, I made a few tucks (See A & B)  using needle and thread, to give the head a better shape.  I then attached a piece of foam to cover the back.  (C)

Time to get really creative and add some detail features.

I added two triangle pieces of foam to shape the eyes and another  longer triangle between the eyes.

I attached spikes running down the back of the head and neck.

I used hot glue to attach all the foam pieces.

You have to press hard and hold in place for a little while for foam to stick to foam.  

Expect more cursing!

 

As if I hadn't been burned enough yet, I then used the glue gun to cover the entire head with green felt.

I lined the inside of the mouth with brown felt.

I added teeth cut from craft foam....one sheet took care of the whole mouth.

 

I cut a styrofoam egg in half and hot glued a plastic eyeball to each half.

I used brown and silver fabric paint on the entire costume to create more detail.  

 

Dinosaur Tail:

I followed this fabulous "How To Make A Dinosaur Tail" tutorial.

Dinosaur Hands and Feet:

Rather than have Jack wear the dino hands, I chose to make them to sit on top of his hands.  I cut pieces from felt, sewed them together and lightly stuffed.  I attached a piece of elastic to the palm side to fit around Jack's wrist.

The dino feet are the same pattern as the hands, just a little bigger.  I added a "cuff" and pieces of velcro to the top of each foot which will wrap around Jack's ankle.  A piece of elastic is attached to the bottom.  (The elastic will be under Jack's shoe and hold the dino foot in place.

I used packing peanuts for claws....cut a point at one end and attached with hot glue.  

 

The Dinosaur's Body:

My suggestion would be to use a sweatshirt and sweatpants.  I had green felt already glued to the head when I realized I couldn't find green sweats.  I had to improvise.  I found two matching sweatshirts at The Salvation Army.  I used one of the sweatshirts to make the pants.  Honestly, I won't even try to write a tutorial for Jack's dino body because I just sort of pieced it together and made it all work.

I recommend determining your body color (finding sweats) before buying felt for the other parts.  

 

If you do make your own dinosaur costume, I hope you will come back and share a picture!

Jack love's his costume!!

   

More of My Halloween Costume Ideas:

Thomas The Train Costume

Costumes For Kids

Halloween Costume Ideas

Skeleton In Coffin Costume

Halloween Costumes For Groups

 

______________________________________________________________________________

 

    

New Hampshire Home Staging FAQ

Professional Home Staging services for the New Hampshire Seacoast

Portsmouth   Rye   Greenland  North Hampton  Dover  Rochester  Somersworth 

603.661.8524