Zamming for Kids

Zam I Am

Well-Known Hunter
I have been getting a lot of emails lately for a lot of zam things, and I thought I would post this up, since this was a different one from the others questions I usually get.
I’m making a Zam costume for my 3 year old daughter. She calls her Zam Woosle. I was wondering if you had any suggestions for the hat. I read through the forums and all the work you guys do is amazing – but I am hoping to find something more suitable for my daughter.
Thanks,
L.

Wow 3 yrs old! That's young! Tons of costuming companies are selling various costuming things that you could probably "take apart" and assemble back together. Especially at 3 yrs old, your child will grow out of it quickly. DCB's daughter wore hers outfit once. Tk409's was totally awesome too. http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=15820 this thread would have a lot of ideas. I would say, lots of craft foam for a lot of parts, for safety reasons, but the hat/helmet, can be tricky. My first thought, if on a budget mini zam, was to take a fake construction worker's hat for little kids, or a firefighter's hat. I would cut the sides to make it concave, and round the the brim or use several yardsale signs and glue on the brim or cut the circles to make the top of the helmet concave ) ( The thrift stores would be your best friend too. I saw some viking helmets at the holloween store once, which are already made with plastic and painted silver, so it would save you some time. Get a couple of sizes larger, so that the concave parts wouldn't dig into her head. And, you could put some foam in it to make it more secure on her head. I am at a loss really, cause I have never tried it. So I can't say it would work, but it may be a good "starting point" to try from. DCB took apart old fisher price roller skating tops for the toe gaurds. That's all I can remember from like 3-4 years ago? The real helmet has rectangular metal tubing from Ace hardware. I wouldn't know how else to attatch it to a helmet, budget-wise, other than useing the real thing. Again ~ this would be for a Budget mini-zam. Accuracy always takes more time. And depending on how many people you have working on it, it's a tight cram for Halloween ;) Good Luck!

If any other zammers would like to chime in with ideas, go right ahead!
 
Perhaps some of the things that Cressie did for her awesome "Budget Zam" would work for kids too?

Ackk!! Halloween is coming up ... isn't it?
 
I'm with ZIM's idea of making a helmet from already existing kiddie costume helmets. I've seen several that might work from the Oriental Trading Magazine, such as kiddie construction helmets: http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=/products/25_1615.jsp&event=link.externalProductDetails&sku=25/1615&topLevelCategoryId=377320&parentCategoryId=377340&categoryId=377364&tabId=PartySupplies&BP=8067&cm_mmc=srchdex-_-CHILD%E2%80%99S+CONSTRUCTION+HATS-_-srchdex-_-srchdex&CM_REF=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.google.com%2Fimgres%3Fimgurl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fimage.orientaltrading.com%2Fotcimg%2F25_1615.jpg%26imgrefurl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.orientaltrading.com%2Fproducts%2F25_1615.jsp%26h%3D350%26w%3D350%26sz%3D15%26tbnid%3DaUI8Ys0B6kJzYM%3A%26tbnh%3D120%26tbnw%3D120%26hl%3Den%26um%3D1%26prev%3D%2Fimages%253Fq%253Dplastic%252Bkid%252Bhelmet%2526svnum%253D10%2526um%253D1%2526hl%253Den%2526client%253Dfirefox-a%2526channel%253Ds%2526rls%253Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial%2526sa%253DN%26frame%3Dsmall
And at that price, you could have a kiddie Zam army! :)

I would also suggest making the helmet out of craft foam sheets from Hobby Lobby. The craft foam is less than a dollar for 8X14 sheets. That is what I did with my helmet, except I backed it with fiberglass. For a kid, you wouldn't have to do that. Plus you can use fabric glue/Elmer's glue, which makes it non-toxic so the kids can help out. I basically used the same steps from A Lord of the Rings costume site: http://www.entropyhouse.com/penwiper/costumes/helmsdeep.html

I can't wait to see some kiddie Zam's! too cute!
 
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