I;m trying to make tmnt shells for the kids at my 5yr old's party-any ideas???

Question

that's a good idea..but i meant like to wear-sorry guess i wasn't clear, but great answer

Answer 1

Do you want them to be hard? Will they be wearing them while running around? Will they need to sit in them?

I can tell you things I have done to make costumes with my kids, but strongly urge you to try it all out ahead of time to make sure it works for you. Honestly I could probably make one of these no problem, but trying to think out all the steps?? I might miss something :(

If you want harder shells go get large boxes from the supermarket---the kind they unpack that come with paper towls or something in them.

Measure your kids. I would suggest making the shell stop at/above the waist and don't extend past the shoulder. If their whole torso is behind the shell they will be bending and banging it when they move their arms and legs.

Your goal is to use one piece of carboard to make two shell halves---one for each side of his body---but you don't want to cut the two ovals apart---you want to leave a rectangle in the middle and cut a hole out for his head.

Before you color the cardboard, put heavy duty tape inside and outside on both sides under where the armpits will be. Poke holes through the tape. Use a hole punch if you can. The tape will help reinforce the holes and you'll use the hole to put something through to tie the shell closed on the side. Otherwise it won't stay on very well. Tie it loosely with ribbon or something that has a bit of give---if you use string and make it really tight then the string may start to tear through the carboard. ***Don't put the hole right at the edge--move in a bit.

You can also put metal looseleaf binder-type rings through the holes and then put ribbon through there---just make sure the holes are far enough in so they don't rip and close enough to the edge so the rings  fit.

Shape the cardboard ends to look like a shell and color it all green---coloring the inside a lighter green can make it look more real :) Use black marker to drawn the shell shape and the lines on the shell. Note: I said "color" not paint because the paint may start to crack and peel off the cardboard once it the carboard and is being bent. You might be able to use some kind of spray paint instead or markers---I just know the typical poster paint will NOT work. LOL

You'll need to pre-fold and bend the cardboard so it fits over their shoulders and hangs down properly.

If the carboard is too difficult, then cut the ovals out, and use something wide on each side to make shoulder straps---you just don't want anything that could hurt a child's neck. I suppose you could always cut out wide rectangles of cardboard and staple them inside the shell on either side of the neck.

Heavy duty paper bags are another option depending on the kids and the activities. You can draw outlines of shells on the front and back, put holes in for arms and heads and let the kids color them in and put them on...they may rip though.

Finally, if soft is okay, why not get t-shirts and fabric paint and paint t-shirts to look like shells? If you have a small handful of kids you could even put their names on them if you wanted ,and this could be a take--home party favor. If you started with medium green shirts you could paint the shells on the back in a darker color or just use paint to draw the shells and add accent color.

Don't know if this is of any interest, but here is a turtle puppet activity that my kids liked. You'll need white paper plates, construction paper, old white socks, markers/paint, a stapler and some "eyes".

Have the kids color the outsides of two paper plates to make shells,

draw faces on the ends of the socks and glue on eyes

cut out "legs" from the contruction paper ahead of time and have them tape them on the inside non-painted part so that only a bit of the leg is inside and most of the leg/foot is hanging out. Put each child's initials on the bottom of one foot.

let the eyes dry and have the kids go do something else for a bit :) while you assemble.

Put the plates so the colored parts are on the outside and

put the sock so it goes through the center of the plates. Staple around the right and left edges of the plate leaving the top and and bottom open for the sock. Then the kid can put his arm in the sock and use it like a puppet. This doesn't work as well with big kids because of the size of their arms.

The puppets aren't TMNT, but they're turtles---maybe TMNT before they mutated?

Sorry this is soooo long. I didn't realize how much it would take to explain until I started typing.

Answer 2

i ahve a good idea if they love chocolate.

if you can get to a craft store, get some easter egg moulds, oval shape.

then make the easter eggs with white chocolate and green food colouring.

just make sure you dont use the ones that you have to fill all the way to the top get the moulds that you fill then continue flipping every so often.

when there set cut them down the middle where the join is and there you go 2 TMNT shells. then you could decorate with lollies for the head and tail.

hope it helps, it think it would look great

Answer 3

The only thing I can think of is to use cardboard boxes and invert the corners so it's rounder, you could also use masking tape to help mould it into better shape- then perhaps paper machier over the top and paint it.  You'd have to make sure you cut some arm holes and a head hole too.

Sounds like a lot of work!  

Good luck!