Character Couture

From Spiderman to Glinda, every character needs an iconic costume to help tell their story! Explore imagination and costume design by having your students come up with their own character that they want to bring to life. This could be inspired from a classic fairytale, their favorite comic book or be completely made up.

First, ask your students to give their character a name. From there, prompt questions like:

• Where does your character live?
• What do they like to do?
• What are their favorite colors?

Next, have your students draw a picture of what their character looks like and wears, making sure to use different colors (and glitter when necessary). If they get stuck, have them use the descriptions from earlier to inspire their costume, whether it’s a cape, scarf, gown or mermaid tail.

Afterwards, it’s time to create the costumes in real life! Reminder: Costume designers can get their pieces from all sorts of unconventional places. Have students source objects from around the classroom, bring in costume pieces from home or create them using found materials. This could mean wrapping a blanket like a dress, using a tissue box as a hat, or creating a crown out of paper and tape.

Once everyone has their costume, it’s time to walk the runway. Put on a fashion show for another class where each student displays their fabulous look and embodies their unique character. Now you’ve told a story through fashion!

To support this unit, use the Category Is: Fairy Godperson Opulence Creativity Page.