Easy Halloween costumes for preschoolers in 10 minutes

Young children care more about comfort than accuracy. A costume they will happily wear for an hour beats a perfect one they pull off at the first house. Every idea below takes about 10 minutes and needs no sewing.

What to gather first

• A plain sweatshirt or T-shirt, plus leggings or sweatpants, in one color
• Felt or construction paper
• Masking tape, a glue stick and scissors (yours, plus child-safe ones for helping)
• Washable markers or face paint
• A headband or a knit hat
• Paper plates, pipe cleaners and a cardboard box
• Reflective tape or stickers, if you have them

Tape is faster than glue. Lay paper shapes on the clothes and fix them with wide strips of masking tape, and they peel off cleanly the next day.

Ten costumes, about 10 minutes each

1. Pumpkin. Orange top, green leggings or a green hat. Cut big triangle eyes and a wide smile from black paper and tape them on the front. Twist a green pipe cleaner around a headband for the stem.
2. Friendly ghost. White sweatshirt and white pants instead of a sheet over the head, so your child can see. Tape on two big black oval eyes and a round "oh" mouth. Add a white knit hat.
3. Cat. Black, gray or orange top. Tape two felt triangles to a headband for ears. Draw whiskers with face paint. Roll a long sock into a tail and tuck the end into the waistband.
4. Crayon. One solid-color top and leggings. Roll a paper cone for a hat and tape a black zigzag band around it, and another around the chest. Your child is now Purple, or Green, or whichever color they choose.
5. Dinosaur. Green or gray hooded sweatshirt. Cut a row of big paper triangles, fold the bottom edge of each, and tape them down the hood and back as spikes. Soft and floppy is fine.
6. Bee. Yellow top. Wide strips of black tape across it make the stripes. Two pipe cleaners on a headband make the antennae. Cut a paper plate in half and tape the halves to the back for wings.
7. Ladybug. Red top, black leggings. Tape on five or six black paper circles. Add a headband with two black pipe cleaners.
8. Cow. White top. Cut big, wobbly black patches from paper and tape them all over. Felt ears on a headband, and a pink dot of face paint on the nose.
9. Sheep. White top and a white knit hat. Tape on cotton balls or scrunched white tissue in clusters. Black or brown felt ears on the headband.
10. Box robot. Take a small box, cut a neck hole in the bottom and an arm hole in each side, and leave the top open. Your child wears it over a gray top. Draw dials and buttons with markers, or glue on bottle caps. Keep the box short enough to end above the hips so your child can sit and climb steps, and never put a box over the head.

A quick comfort and visibility check

Before your child goes out the door, do a two-minute check.

• Light and bright. Safe Kids suggests choosing light colors and decorating costumes and bags with reflective tape or stickers. Put a strip on the front, the back and the treat bag. Safe Kids also suggests carrying glow sticks or flashlights.
• Face paint, not masks. Safe Kids recommends face paint and makeup instead of masks that limit sight.
• No billowing extras. The CPSC advises avoiding baggy sleeves and billowing skirts, and keeping costumes away from candles. That is one more reason a fitted sweatshirt beats a draped sheet or a long cape.
• Read the label. If you buy any piece, look for a "Flame Resistant" label. The CPSC notes this "doesn't mean costumes won't burn", so the candle rule still applies.
• Walk test. Have your child walk, sit, climb a stair and wave their arms. If anything slips over their eyes or catches their feet, fix it now.
• A grown-up goes too. Safe Kids says adults should go with children under 12.

Talk about it

• "Do you want to be something that grows, something that flies or something that roars?"
• "If you were a crayon, what color would you be?"
• "What sound does your costume make?"
• "Where should the shiny tape go so cars can see you?"

More from Storytime Crayons

Our free coloring pages show Rex the little dinosaur in a pumpkin hat, Mochi the kitten and Biscuit the puppy dressed as a witch and a ghost, and Swirl the ice cream cone in a tiny witch hat, so your child can color a costume before choosing one.