Mine Craft Touch Screen Game Costume

Part two of our Mine Craft Halloween. Kaiden was the Pig as seen in the 'ible here. And like Kaiden, Zander didn't want to be a person either. He wanted to the game itself. He really enjoys the interactive aspect now that we have done the playable pacman costume, smash bros costume, and poke'mon theater costume. I totally agree with him there, it is so much fun being able to have people interact with the costume and being all lit up is great too!

Zander has a ipad and and an ipad mini on which he has Mine Craft Pocket Edition. We used these as the basis for the costume.

You will need:

Cardboard

exacto knife

scissors

pencil

ruler

hot glue

ipads with minecraft app

a hat

minecraft logo printed

battery powered led strip (bought mine at the dollar tree a few years ago and had them sitting in the art junk box)

Several shades of brown and green paint

Black paint pens

White spray paint

As with Kaiden's pig costume, I got lucky and had the perfect size box to use.

It need to be able fold over the child's shoulder and reach down to about the waist.

Draw on a large circle centered on the shoulder section and cut it out for the head.

Try it on to make sure the hole is large enough and the costume isn't too long. You don't want it to reach the thighs as it will hinder movement.

Lay the Ipad or tablet you are using on the cardboard. Make sure it is centered and placed at the height you wish.

Trace the pad.

Draw a rectangle inside the tracing that is a bit smaller than the pad. This will keep the pad from falling out. Make sure you leave a good enough boarder for this.

Cut out the inner rectangle.

Place the pad under the card board to test the size of the hole. You should have plenty of screen visible. If you left too large a boarder, you can cut some more off.

Keep the rectangle piece you cut out.

We have a pad in the front and the back of the costume. If you use 2 as well, repeat these steps on the back.

Now we need to make pockets to hold the pads.

Get a piece of cardboard.

Trace the rectangle piece you cut out in the previous step. Make sure to leave a good boarder all around when you do.

On both short sides of the tracing, add about a quarter inch or so. This area needs to be a little wider than the pad. (Lines A)

On both sides and the bottom of the new rectangle, add a boarder of about a quarter to a half inch. This will be the sides of the pocket. (Lines B)

On both sides and the bottom of the new rectangle, add a boarder of about an inch or two. This will be the flaps to glue it on. (Lines C)

Cut it out on the outer lines (Lines C)

Score and fold inwards on the innermost lines. (Lines A)

Score and fold out ward on Lines B

Line up the pocket with the Pad hole on the inside of the costume. The bottom should be slightly lower than the bottom of the hole. Remember, this boarder keeps the pad from falling so make sure to leave enough space. Also make sure to center the pocket over the hole so that the sides are even.

Hot glue the pocket in place.

Test the fit. Put the Pad in and make sure it doesn't have too much room to move around and that it doesn't fall out through the hole.

**note** Spray paint the costume white now

Use a ruler to mark a grid of 2 in by 2 in squares.

Use a reference photo to help mark each square with a shade of green or brown. I used about 4 or 5 browns and the same with green. I used a letter for each shade like LB for light brown, G for green and so on. When all the squares are marked for the colors they need, start painting.

There are quite a few squares to paint.

When the painting is done, use a black paint pen to trace over all the lines of the grid. This makes the costume look so much nicer since it covers any mistakes in the painting.

You can also spray on a few coats of clear coat to help protect it from rain and water.

I decided after I finished the costume that I would like to add a Marquee for the game.

Draw out a rectangle about the same length as the width of the costume and about 11 in wide.

From the bottom measure up 5 inches. Draw a line across length wise. Do the same from the top. You should have 2 rectangles of the 5 inches wide with an inch in between in the center.

Cut it out on the outer lines. Fold on the inner lines to a triangle like shape so the cardboard stands.

Spray paint it green.

Print out the minecraft logo. Cut it out. Tape the parts together, Glue it on the cardboard.

Place the hat on the child's head

Place the sign on the hat and mark where the sides of the sign touch the hat.

Remove the hat.

Use hot glue to attach the sign to the hat.

Every good Marquee has lights! Again, I added theses after finishing the sign because I couldn't find where I put them. But I did end up finding them and they just had to be added!

I had several pictures of this part, but the SD card in my phone acted up and some of the pictures were corrupted.

Basically, I taped the batter box to the inside of the sign in the middle behind the hat. Then run the wire so that the first LED is near the bottom corner of the side. Hold the LED with the top pressed against the sign to make sure there is enough wire to reach. You need a little slack to tape the wire to the sign.

Mark where the light is to go.

Poke a hole through the sign. I used this little screw in hook from the tool box to start the hole and a pencil to widen it.

Push the LED into the hole.

Tape down the wire from the battery box to the first LED to hold in place.

Now repeat this with the next LED in the top corner.

Then evenly space the remaining LEDS minus 1 across the top of the sign. The last LED will be for the bottom corner on the other side.

The Marquee is a little on the heavy side. He also has to hold his head straight as much as possible to keep it from tilting sideways. But it looks great! It will be awesome in the dark while trick or treating.