Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s my little man saving the city of Gotham by stomping out criminals one at a time.
I don’t know a single kid who doesn’t want to dress up like a superhero. My own son is only 21 months and he loves running around in a DIY superhero cape I made out of nothing more than an adult-sized T-shirt and a few handmade felt appliques. You can give your child the same joy in a few really easy steps–easier than escaping from the Green Hornet’s evil clutches, anyway.
DIY Super Hero Cape: Materials
T-shirt (Small or medium adult size work best for younger children, but you can trim down a large size to fit as well)
Fabric scissors
Measuring tape or ruler
Felt in various colors
Hot glue gun or craft glue
Optional Materials
Jewels, buttons, glitter, and other adornments
Stencil templates downloaded from the Internet, like:
–Alphabet Stencils for initials
–Number Stencils – great for birthday gifts
DIY Superhero Cape: Instructions
1. Grab an old t-shirt (preferably not one of dad’s old smelly ones). The size of the shirt doesn’t matter so much; if it’s a large, you can always trim it down, but try to use a small or a medium adult sized T-shirt which requires less cutting.
2. Using your fabric scissors, cut around the neck seam and down the shoulders, removing the front and the arms of the t-shirt, while leaving the neck hole intact with the back.
3. Cut through the middle of the neck seam in the front, to create cape ties
4. Where the T-shirt connects to the neck seam, measure about 9 inches. Take your scissors and cut diagonally down the back of the T-shirt from each side of the 9 inches you measured.
It doesn’t have to be perfect! The idea is to create an inverted “V” so your cape tapers out and can fly in the wind as your child chases villains.
5. Get your child involved with the decorating – kids have very strong ideas about such things. Choose the preferred color of felt and cut out shapes, initials, superhero logos, or other icons. If your daughter wants a sword, lightning bolt, and teddy bear all together, so be it.
6. Using a hot glue gun or craft glue, adhere the shapes to the back of the cape. Let your child finish it off with buttons, jewels, glitter, rickrack or other touches.
7. Make more. Because no city can ever have too many superheroes to help out.
Want more inspiration for summer play ideas? Tune in next week, same bat time, same bat channel….and see how Kristen pulls this off with her own kids as part of the Martha Stewart #SavorSummer project.
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