Boo Express Train Engine Costume

My son is obsessed with all things train. From the time he wakes up to the time he goes to sleep that is all he talks about. So, I decided we would try and make him a custom train engine costume out of cardboard. And, of course, I joined in on the fun as a coal car. Best of all, it glows in the dark!

*But, before we get into the materials and instructions, a couple of notes. First, if you want the detailed step by step directions including tips and tons of photos, please refer to the blog post link that I have included below. Secondly, I wanted to mention that we used the same method from the train engine tutorial to create the coal car.

That said, you’ll need:

Large cardboard box, small cardboard box, tape, scissors, box cutter, black paint, paper plate, paintbrush, red tape, yellow tape, black tissue paper, glue, glow in the dark paint, printable/stencil, red paper, yellow paper & Velcro.

As for the steps, they are as follows:

Make the train engine and wheels out of the large cardboard box. With the small carboard box, create the cab, boiler, smokestack, and buffers. Then, with the paper plate, complete the boiler by taping it to the front of the train engine. Next, paint your train engine. While you are waiting for the paint to dry, start printing, coloring, and cutting the details you want to add to your train engine. For instance, for us, I wanted my little guy’s cardboard train engine Halloween costume to be cute, fun, colorful, and unique. Therefore, we added a lot of features to make sure that it stood out from the crowd which not only included cute pumpkins, adorable spiders, and a playful personality, but glow in the dark paint as well! Afterward, glue or tape everything in place. Lastly, don’t forget to add straps!