DIY Nursery Rhyme Family Costume

Gather round! It is time to hear the tale of Mother Goose and her Nursery Rhyme friends!

I love Halloween and love making costumes, but the costume I look forward to the most each year is our family costume! It is so fun coming together and having a fun theme, and I absolutely LOVE our theme for this year! Nursery Rhymes!!

Nursery Rhymes are so universally known around the world, and it actually shocks me that I haven’t seen many Nursery Rhyme- themed costumes in the wild! There are sooo many great options to do! Jack and Jill, Little Miss Muffet, Mary Had a Little Lamb- the options are endless! I actually had a super hard time narrowing down which Nursery Rhyme characters we were going to do for our costume this year! Ultimately, I decided on characters that are easily recognizable, and still a fun challenge to put together! But, there definitely are possibilities for me to make more in the future!

MOTHER GOOSE

Old Mother Goose,
When she wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander...

This entire Nursery Rhyme-themed family costume idea stemmed solely from this teal dress! I originally bought this dress to wear for my sister-in-law’s renaissance-themed bachelorette party. After I bought it I thought, this dress is too cute to only wear once, so, I racked my brain for an idea for a halloween costume that it could work with. Throw on a few extra accessories like glasses, an apron and a bonnet, and it makes a perfect Mother Goose costume! Once I decided on a Mother Goose costume, the idea of a Nursery Rhyme family costume just naturally came to me! There were so many fun nursery rhymes to choose from and I was so excited!

To create this look, I wore my renaissance dress, a beautiful bonnet, round glasses, and an apron. I could not forget my little goose pal, so I brought him along and put him in my apron pocket for the night! To finish off the look, I carried around a Mother Goose nursery rhyme collection book that I thrifted a little while back!

LINKS: DRESS | BONNET | GOOSE STUFFY | ACCESSORIES

TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

I originally planned to make Scarlett’s costume “I’m a Little Teapot”, but she said she really didn’t want to do that, and chose “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” instead! I mean, hey, that is MUCH easier to make, so that’s okay by me! Plus, we used to sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little SCAR” to her when she was a baby, so it was kismet!

I kept it super simple with this costume. I made her a giant sparkly gold star mask/headpiece, put her in a gold dress and gold shoes, and added a little gold eyeshadow to top it off!

Supplies:

Gold poster board
Thick/sturdy poster board
Elastic
Gold glitter*
Spray adhesive
Hot glue gun
X-acto knife

How To:

Cut a star shape out of your thick poster board.
Cut out a hole in the center of the star large enough for a face to fit in it.
Trace your star on the gold poster board, creating an identical shape.
Glue the gold poster board on top of the thick poster board star. (I wrapped my gold poster board around the sides and back of the star as well)
Spray adhesive on top of the star and sprinkle glitter.*
Once the glitter has adhered to the star, take your hot glue gun and glue a strip of elastic to the back of the star on both sides of the face opening, so it can be held in place on the head.

* = Optional step

LINKS: DRESS | SHOES

HICKORY DICKORY DOCK

Hickory Dickory Dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory Dickory Dock

Just like with Scarlett, I had so many different ideas for what Violett’s nursery rhyme costume would be! I had a costume I really wanted to make, but just simply knew I wouldn’t be able to finish in time! I do not want to say what the idea was though, because I do hope I will be able to make it in the future as a stand alone costume! 😉

I was so excited when I finally came up with the idea to do “Hickory Dickory Dock”! The funny thing is, I have wanted to make a grand father clock costume for a long time, so when I thought of the idea to make this costume it was a win-win! This was probably my favorite of our Nursery Rhyme costumes and definitely was the most fun to make!

Supplies:

Cardboard box
Gold poster paper/gold paint/marker*
White poster paper
Brown, black and gold paint/spray paint
Black paint/sharpie
Black construction paper
Two-sided sticky tape
Mouse cat toys
Hot glue gun
X-acto knife

How To:

If your cardboard box is not already the perfect size, you can cut and assemble any box that you have to accommodate.*

Cut out a face hole in your card board box about 1/3rd from the top.
Cut out arm holes on both sides of the box.
Cut out details in the top and/or base of the clock to give it some personality.*
With a separate piece of cardboard, cut out details for the base of the clock- the pendulum and weights.
Once all cardboard pieces are cut, go ahead and (spray) paint everything. I spray painted my clock brown, my front panel black and my pendulum and weights gold. (Pro tip – spray your cardboard box with gesso spray paint primer first to help paint stick better and not soak into the cardboard)
Once each piece is painted, it is time to assemble. Hot glue all pieces in place.
After assembled, you can add some detail to your clock with gold poster board or gold paint. (I cut out all my details from gold poster board and then hot glued it on).*
Next you will need to make the “face” of the clock. Cut out a circle from your white poster board to wrap around the outer rim of your face hole. On the poster board, draw/paint the numbers on the clock. I did roman numerals.
Now that your clock is fully assembled, it is time to glue on your mice. Using hot glue, attach your mice as if they are “running up the clock”.
Lastly, you will need to make the clock hands for your face. Cut both a long (minute) and short (hour) clock hand out of black construction paper. Attach them together in whatever time increment you want. (I made my clock read 4 o’clock because my daughter is 4 years old) Add double-sided table to the back of the clock hands so it can be attached to the face of the costume-wearer.

* = Optional step

LINKS: BROWN OUTFIT | FACE PAINT | MOUSE CAT TOYS

HUMPTY DUMPTY

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Humpty Dumpty may be one of the most iconic, widely recognized Nursery Rhyme characters of all time, so of course I had to make him be a part of this family costume! I was so excited to challenge myself to make this costume, and really had to brainstorm how to bring it to life. Especially since the costume includes him sitting on a wall! I definitely had lots of trial and error moments where I just had to wing certain aspects, and I think it all ended up coming together nicely!

This Humpty Dumpty is definitely an artistic interpretation of him! I was nearly all the way completed with this costume when I remembered that Humpty Dumpty’s entire body is supposed to be an egg, and not just his head. Oops! Well, in my version, he is a total egg head!

I am thrilled with how this costume came out, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that this costume is a thing of nightmares! Everything was cool until I put the white face paint and blush on my husband, and then it instantly became cursed! I guess that means you can wear this as a kid-friendly costume OR a horror costume if you’d like! haha

Supplies:

White felt fabric
Black Felt
Red Felt
Large cardboard box
Brown paint/spray paint
White paint marker
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Poly-fil
Small (kids) leggings
Small (kids) shoes

How To:

PART ONE – THE HEAD

Cut two identical large oblong, egg-shapes out of the white felt fabric.
Cut out a face hole in one of the felt pieces. (not both)
Use your hot glue gun to glue together the perimeter edge of the egg-shaped felt. Make sure to leave the bottom edge unglued, in a wide enough section that you can fit your head in the space.
Once all sides of the egg are glued together, aside from the bottom part, turn the felt pieces inside out. Hiding the glue seam on the inside of the head piece.
If your egg-shaped head piece feels a little floppy, use some poly-fil to help shape out the top of the head.*
Once the egg head piece is complete, it is time to accessorize. Cut a bow shape out of your red felt, and hot glue it to the bottom of the egg head piece.
To make the hat, cut two circles out of black felt, one larger than the other, but both relatively small so that the hat remains much smaller than the head itself.
1. Next you will cut a long rectangle shape out of the black felt. Glue the rectangle along the perimeter of the smaller felt circle.
2. Once you have a half completed cylinder shape (with the small circle and rectangle felt attached), go ahead and glue the remaining side in the middle of the larger black circle. This will create a top hat shape.
3. Attach a thin strip of red felt to the base of the hat to give it a little extra detail and help it match the bow tie. (I used another method when making this mini hat, but it was much more complicated and very difficult to describe – so I would stick to making yours this way)

PART TWO – THE BODY AND WALL

Get a large cardboard rectangular box (or assemble one yourself) and make sure the top and bottom are completely open, cutting off any extra side “flaps”. I cut off all but one side flap, so that I would have a flat surface to affix my “legs” on top of. You can have your box as large as you’d like, it can touch the ground, or you can have it a little off the ground as well. (I did that so my husband could walk easier with it on)
Cut out two rectangular holes from each side of the cardboard box, near the top. (These will be how you hold up the “wall”.)*
Once the basic construction of a rectangular box is finished, it is time to paint/spray paint the box brown. You can use any brown/red variation. This will be the color of the “bricks”. As I stated with the Hickory Dickory Dock costume, the process is so much smoother if you spray the box with gesso before spraying with spray paint.
Now that your box is brick-colored, it is time to draw in the mortar lines so it actually looks like bricks. Take a straight edge or ruler and make horizontal stripes, with your white paint marker, that wrap around the entirety of the box. In between the horizontal stripes, you will need to make alternating vertical stripes as well, to give it a brick pattern. Now your wall is completely constructed!
Now it is time to make Humpty Dumpty’s “legs” hanging off of the wall. To do this, take your pair of leggings and fill them completely with poly-fil. It’s okay if they look a little lumpy! Once they are completely filled, seal the waist and leg hole areas closed with a hot glue gun so that no poly-fil spills out.
Once the legs are completed, take your hot glue gun and glue the pants on top of your cardboard wall. Make sure it is completely reinforced in its place.
Now you can add the shoes to finish off the legs! If you use light shoes, you should be able to glue the back of the shoe right to the box and it will hold. I used pretty heavy shoes, so I had to make a small “shoe shelf” out of extra pieces of cardboard to help distribute the weight, and I glued the shoes to that.

* = Optional Step

I couldn’t be more excited with how this family costume came together! I made each costume separately, at a different time. I think they each look great standing alone, but when I got them altogether I squealed with excitement! All of them work so well with each other! This is definitely going to be one of my favorite family costumes to look back on when the girls are grown! I cannot wait to hear Violett say “you dressed me as a clock?!”

My girls are at the perfect age right now where they still like to dress up with us each year for Halloween, but also have fun taking the pictures for my blog posts! I know this will not last for a whole lot longer, so I am so thankful to get to do it now! haha

I truly am so lucky to have a family full of enthusiasts that match my freak and make the most out of every celebration, whether it’s Halloween or any other holiday! Effort is a huge love language for me, and the way that they are not only willing to dress up with me, but do so eagerly- I could not feel more loved!

I had the best time coming up with and creating these halloween costumes for 2026! What do you think will be in store for 2027?! Come back next year to find out!!

Happy Halloween from the Kirchners!