Life-Size Cutouts

Take measuring your child’s height to a new and fun level. Get creative and grab some paper and crayons and make a life size cut out that they can decorate. If you want to make one for them that is more durable like ones you can find in stores in the shapes of various characters, all you’ll need is some cardboard to paste your cut out on to.

Materials Needed for Project:

·         Large sheet of paper (big enough to fit your child’s shape)

·         Scotch tape

·         Glue

·         Scissors

·         Box cutter

·         Crayons and markers

·         Ribbon

·         Yarn

·         Glitter

·         Magazine or catalogue cut outs

To get your child’s shape from head to toe, you can either have them lay down on the paper on a hard floor or you can tape the paper to the wall and have them stand against it. Instead of using a marker that can end up on your child’s clothes, use your child’s favorite color of crayon or ball point pen instead. The crayon will give you a much thicker line to follow though when it comes to cutting out your child’s shape.

Once you have your child traced onto the paper (remove it from the wall if that is how you chose to do it) grab your scissors. If you want to use the cardboard to make it sturdy, center your outline on the cardboard so the shape fits with in the size of cardboard you have. Glue the paper in place and use a box cutter to cut your shape. Be careful with the box cutter and make sure that you have something under your blade so you don’t cut through to your hardwood or linoleum floors. Those of you that aren’t using cardboard, simply take some scissors and continue to cut out your shape.

Once all cut out, get together any extra ribbon, wrapping paper, crayons, markers, glitter and anything you can think of that your child will like to use for decorating. Let your child decorate him or herself from head to toe in any way that they’d like. Use the wrapping paper or cut outs from magazines and catalogues to make a giant collage of things that they love like food, family, toys and animals. You could even find pictures laying around that you don’t mind parting with that they can use.

If your child wants a more life like cut out, start by helping to draw pants and a shirt or a dress. They can then decorate their clothes however they like with their materials. For hair, use your yarn and glue to give them a cute hair style or if old enough, let them do it themselves. They can even use the yarn to make their eyes, nose and mouth. Ideas are endless and your child will have a great time coming up with different ways to decorate themselves with all the fun accessories that you have for them to use and this project’s difficulty level is strictly up to by limiting the materials used making this fun for kids of all ages.