How to Make a Scorpion Costume

G1 is learning about biomes at school. As part of the curriculum, the children were supposed to dress up as animals from different biomes. G1 chose to be a scorpion from the savanna. Really? A scorpion? He couldn’t have chosen something easier, like an elephant? Then I could have recycled that elephant ears headband and all I would need are grey clothes and a trunk. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t wriggle out of the scorpion costume…

So how does one make a scorpion costume? Thankfully, we live in the Internet age and everything can be found online.

Well, almost. Do you know what you get when you google scorpion costume? You get this:

 

Yeah, he’s the Scorpion character from Mortal Kombat – a computer game.

So I did the next best thing… I whinged about it on Facebook and all my lovely friends rushed in with lots of wonderful ideas and tips and this was what I eventually put together from all that great advice…

How to Make a Scorpion Costume

Scorpion Costume Base

• Black long sleeve top
• Long black pants
• Black beanie or one of those convertible beanie/scarf/neck warmer (I found one in Daiso)
• Black shoes

We didn’t have black shoes so I recycled the black hair nets we got when the boys went to Kidzania.

Scorpion Costume Claws

What you will need:

• black felt
• card board
• black thread – I used embroidery floss (with needle)
• elastic thread

I drew my claws by hand but you are welcome to download Martha Stewart’s lobster claw template. You need two claws out of cardboard and four out of black felt. The cardboard claws need to be slightly smaller than the felt claws (maybe half an inch in all around) – these are to give your felt claws more body or they end up being very floppy. I used blanket stitch to sew the black felt claws together. I had to use elastic thread to secure the claws to my son’s hands because I made the opening too large and the claws kept falling off. Here’s the end result:

If you really hate stitching, you can always use black oven mitts – I couldn’t find any. Alternatively, you can glue black felt over your oven mitts…

Scorpion Costume Body and Legs

What you will need:

• black felt
• thick black thread
• black foam sheets
• black/brown ribbon – 1/4 inch thickness
• super glue
• black binding
• double-sided tape

Making the legs:

• Cut 6 strips of black foam. The foam sheets from Art Friend are 50cm x 70cm – I cut one sheet long-ways into six
• I folded each strip into thirds and held it down with double-sided tape.
• The double-sided tape doesn’t hold for long, so you will need to super-glue the edges so it doesn’t open up again.

• Use the elastic thread to tie each leg into four segments – one a few centimeters from the end and the other two evenly spaced.
• Trim the short end segment into a point so it looks like a claw.

• Cut out two rectangular felt pieces about the size of your child’s back – the width of your child’s back and length from shoulder blades to hip.
• Sandwich the edge of the legs between the felt and secure the legs by any means possible. Black foam is hard to work with so use whatever works. I tied the legs together with lengths of string and used super glue to hold everything in place.
• Stitch black binding to each of the four corners of the black felt – this will be used to tie the legs to you child’s trunk.
• Glue or stitch seven strips of brown ribbons across the black felt – these are the segments on the back of your scorpion.

Scorpion Costume Tail

What you will need:

• pool noodle
• black felt
• black elastic thread
• box cutter

Cut the pool noodle to the length required. Shape one end into a point for the stinger. Cut a wedge in the side so you can fold it down to make the stinger. Tape it into place.

Wrap it with black felt (this is the tricky part – and make a point at the end for the stinger) and tie elastic thread to make the segments – there should be four ties to make five segments. Cut a length of black binding and stitch it to the end of the tail – this will be used to tie the tail around your child’s waist.

I was a little short on time but if I could, I would have shaped the noodle so that the tail segments were more pronounced. I would also have used a wire down the tail to give it more shape so it could sit up in the attack position. Feel free to improve on the design and share your photos on my pinterest board. As far as this goes, it’s probably the most effort I have ever placed in any of my sons’ school costumes. I hope it doesn’t set a precedent for higher expectations the next time around…

I did eventually find some scorpion costumes made by other mothers… Cooler looking but much more complicated than mine if you want to go for a bigger challenge…

Made by The Shy Gardener

Photo Credit: The Shy Gardener

Made by Way (from the Coolest Home Made Costumes)

I Hold All the Cards

Photo Credit: I Hold All The Cards

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