Easy costume: Olivia the pig dress up

Why not dress your little girl as Olivia, the red and white striped piglet, from Ian Falconer's Olivia books? This cheap costume idea requires a little bit of glue and toilet roll craft, plus some stripy things from your little girl's wardrobe. 

What you need:

• 1 x toilet roll
• 1 x Alice band (headband)
• 1 x piglet ears FREE printable template
• 1 x sheet of pink foamboard (from craft shops or Hot Dollar shops)
• glue
• scissors
• 1 x 50cm piece of hat elastic or similar
• any red and white striped clothes you can find

Number of players:
1

Activity:

To make the ears and snout for your Olivia the pig costume, trace the FREE printable template pieces onto a piece of pink foamboard.

To make Olivia's ears:

Cut out each ear piece.  Place them under the headband to check where they will sit. The headband should sit in the middle of the two ear shapes on each ear piece.

Glue along the midline of one ear, hold it to the headband and wait for the glue to dry and stick.

Now fold the lower piece of ear up to match the upper piece of ear, so that the headband is sandwiched in the middle. Glue the two ear shapes together so that they match up exactly.

Do the same with the other ear. Voila! Homemade pig's ears!

To make Olivia's snout:

Cut a toilet roll at the 4cm mark.

Now cut out your snout pieces.  Roll the main piece around the toilet roll to check that it fits. Now glue it around the toilet roll to cover it.

Cut out the end piece with nostrils. Use a hole punch to create the nostril holes.

Glue the end piece onto the snout.

Tie or glue the elastic to the snout so "Olivia" can wear it.

Voila! Homemade pig's snout!

Just add red and white striped clothes!

Hints and tips:

We took our inspiration from Olivia and the missing toy, where she wears her red and white striped onesy.  But the Nickelodeon Olivia  wears a red pinafore with red and white striped T-shirt underneath. Basically anything red is classic "Olivia."

• Thanks to our sister company Kidspot Australia for creating the printable templates.