Get Into STEAM This Halloween With 5 Cardboard Costumes!

What’s better than shopping for an awesome Halloween costume? Making one yourself! By upcycling some things around your home and putting your creativity to work, your family can make imaginative costumes that will stand out in any trick-or-treat crowd.

To help you get started, the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® team gathered five fun ideas for DIY costumes inspired by STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics), innovation and world-changing inventors. The best part? Each one can be made with the most versatile STEAM tool ever: a cardboard box!

1. Extra Special X-ray

To make an X-ray costume, all you need is a box that’s big enough to fit over your child’s chest and a few art supplies. Cut holes in the box for their head and arms, then help your child make the box black by covering it in paint or duct tape. Use construction or printer paper to make an X-ray of a ribcage and glue it on the box. For an extra special touch, consider adding some glow-in-the-dark puffy paint. Before they put on their finished costume, take a moment to learn about Hall of Famer William D. Coolidge, inventor of the X-ray tube!

2. Awesome Airplane

Get ready to soar through trick-or-treat when your child earns their wings using basic household supplies. Start by finding a cardboard box that is large enough for your child to step through, then measure and hot glue ribbon or elastic to form two straps that will hold up their airplane. Once the base is established, encourage your child to paint the outside in any style they’d like. Will they want a cool, vintage plane with large wings or a sleek, modern jet? Make sure to trace and cut out a matching set of wings and consider other accessories like a spinning cardboard propeller or a colorful tail for stability. While you and your child work together to create this incredible aircraft, read all about Hall of Famers Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright. Together, these brothers achieved the first powered, sustained and controlled flight of an airplane!

3. Visionary Doctor

If you’re looking for an inspiring costume, consider gearing up to portray a life-changing doctor. While the base of your child’s outfit can be simple — pants, shirt and a white coat — you can use cardboard to design and cut out detailed accessories! What would you need for a day treating patients? Consider a name badge, note-taking clipboard and other essential tools. Just like doctors, the goal of many inventors is to improve the lives of others. One incredible example is Hall of Famer Dr. Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist and the first Black woman physician to receive a medical patent. Ophthalmologists specialize in eye and vision care, from prescribing glasses to performing surgery. With inspiration from this incredible role model, your child might want to use a cardboard box to create an eye chart as a key feature of their costume.

4. Show-Stopping Traffic Light

Here’s an unexpected costume that will make viewers stop in their tracks to check out your creativity. Help your child use paint or duct tape to cover their cardboard box in a vibrant yellow. Next, use some creative thinking to come up with ways to create your red, yellow and green lights. Consider painting a few paper plates, or maybe you could find some colorful cellophane in your gift-wrapping supplies. If you have a flying disc, that could make a great light too! You might even add some reflective tape to help make the costume more visible after dark. And each time you cross a street, be sure to thank Hall of Famer Garrett Morgan for inventing the three-way traffic signal!

5. Fantastic Farmer

Perfect for a chilly autumn night, throw on your boots and hop on your (cardboard) tractor to harvest all the neighborhood candy! Using a large box that your child can step through as the frame for the tractor, glue or staple two long straps to help hold up the main star of their costume. Then, add two large cardboard circles and two small cardboard circles for the tires, grab small cans or lids for the headlights, and don’t forget to paint the whole thing a vibrant shade of green! Help your child continue to put on personal touches to make their tractor feel more their own. As you build your ideal candy-hauling equipment, take inspiration from Hall of Famer John Deere, who developed the first successful self-scouring steel plow and is the namesake of Deere & Co. – which is still well known today!

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