My chicken boy

A couple of months ago, Biscuit's teacher let us know that they would have a play on May 14 that would involved all the kindergarten class. And we would be helping the kids to learn lines, learn songs and make costumes.

I know I should've been dreading the whole thing, but I'm one of those weird people who likes projects and costumes and planning. So as soon as I knew Biscuit would need to be a chicken, I started looking for ideas online.

I decided what I would do, then I ordered the pieces and parts. I had a white T-shirt that was one size too big, a pair of white, legging-type shorts (they were actually girls', but don't tell Biscuit!), two 6-foot feather boas, safety pins, gold soccer socks, two yellow rubber gloves, a white hat, two googly eyes, some felt, fabric glue and a cereal box (for the cardboard).

But you know how good intentions go. I had all the makings, but they sat on the kitchen table for two weeks.

Then my parents came up for Mother's Day weekend. My Mama knows how to get things done. My Granny always said people like her knew how to "make do."

So Mama saw all the pieces and parts and set to work. And when I saw her getting going, it sett of some gumption in me, too.

Mama used safety pins to attach the boas to the T-shirt, and I used glue and staples to attach the felt to the hat for the comb and beak. I used pages from a word search puzzle book I just finished to stuff the fingers of the rubber gloves, then I slid a pair of Biscuit's shoes inside them.

I'll share pictures and video from the show later, but for now, here's a look at our process and the final product.

This was when Mama was halfway done with the feathers.
Biscuit walked into the room and said, "GRANDMAMA! I'm not a ballerina!"

I used pages from a word search puzzle book to stuff the fingers of the gloves.

The fingers are stuffed, and the shoe is inside. Next
step is to cut a hole in the top for his foot to slip inside.
This became a problem because as I tried to slip his
foot inside, the glove started to tear. And tear and tear
and tear. I was sitting on the floor in the teacher's restroom,
trying to get his foot in that shoe without completely ruining
his chicken feet! Luckily, one of the teachers had
some clear packing tape that put it back together.

I have a bowl that fit perfectly under the chicken hat.
It made adding the pieces to it a lot better.

Here's the chicken body. A few feathers fell off the boa, so Mama
just glued them individually onto the top and sleeves of the shirt.

A trashbag with a hole torn in the bottom made a perfect garment bag.

I originally cut the gold felt to fit all the way across
the bill, but I quickly realized that looked like a duck!

Biscuit let me call him Chickenhead until the play
was over. Sometimes I think he just humors me!