Robot costumes are among my favorite to make because the creative freedom is endless. Knobs, buttons, antennae, switches—you can go crazy with all of the fun pasta shapes out there to create a gorgeous control panel.
We decided to think outside the box (literally) and not put my son Oliver in a cardboard box. Instead, we created his control panel on an 11×14-inch canvas. If you don’t have one of those laying around, you can just cut a piece of cardboard and attach the ribbon around the neck like we did (scroll down to see how-to below).
What you’ll need:
For the control panel
Rotelle (wagon wheel), ziti, penne, rings, orecchiette, flat lasagna and dried ravioli pasta
11”x14” canvas
Small cardboard jewelry box
Silver and blue paint
Red and yellow food dye
Three resealable bags
Hand sanitizer
Silver ribbon
Two flat thumb tacks
Wax paper
For the helmet
1 quart sized metal Colander
Silver pipe cleaners
1 ½-inch-diameter foam pipe insulation
Scissors
Felt
Adhesive velcro
Robot gear
silver/grey hoodie and pants
Grey felt
How to make control panel
Paint canvas and jewelry box silver
Paint the front and back of two pieces of lasagna blue then let dry
Put one teaspoon of hand sanitizer in a plastic bag
Add six drops of red and pour in a variety of pasta types. Shake bag until noodles are covered then lay out on wax paper to dry.
Repeat with yellow dye and orange dye (four drops of yellow and two drops of red)
Glue silver box and two blue lasagna pieces to canvas. Glue smaller pasta on top in grids, v’s and other patterns
Tack one side of the ribbon to the back top corner of the canvas. Measure so that the canvas hangs in front of child’s chest and tack second end to other corner. Cut off excess
How to make helmet
Fold a pipe cleaner in half and thread it through the middle of the top of the colander. Slip colored ziti onto the two sides and twist on wagon wheel pasta at the top. Hot glue colored wagon wheels on the front of the colander for more “buttons”
Cut two 3-inch segments of pipe insulation. Use pipe cleaners to wire them to the inside bottom of the colander (top of the helmet).
To create the helmet’s chin strap, cut a 1-by-14 inch piece of felt and adhere a tab of the rough Velcro to either end on the same side of the strap. Two inches down from the rough Velcro on either side of the strap, attach a 3-inch strip of soft Velcro (to allow the strap to be adjustable). Thread the strap through the colander’s handles.
How to make wristbands
Cut 2 strips of grey felt, approximately 2 inches wide, to fit child’s wrists and add Velcro to the ends
Hot glue matching pasta design in the middle of each wrist band
