Things You'll Need
Black construction paper
Glue
Pencil
Scissors
Tape
It could be a rainy day or it could just be a lazy Saturday afternoon, but chances are good your child will want to play dress-up at some point. While your son may not be dreaming about a future in tuxedo modeling, he may want to dress up using a top hat sometime. Luckily, you don't need to spend money buying an expensive hat when you can make one using construction paper. Not only is this inexpensive but it can also provide an opportunity for your child to participate in its construction.
Step 1
Decide how big you want the opening to be. You can either take a piece of construction paper and wrap it around the boy's head and mark it, or you can use a large can. A coffee can works well. Cut off the excess paper. Be sure to leave an extra 1/2 inch so that you have an area to glue the paper.
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Step 2
Make a line of glue along one of the edges of the paper that will be connecting the cylinder. Create the cylinder so that the edge you put glue on goes under the edge it connects to. Press the two edges together. You can also place tape on the outside. Connect the two edges to hold the cylinder together, while the glue dries.
Step 3
After the glue has dried or you have taped the cylinder so it won't move, place another piece of construction paper on a table. Place the cylinder on top of the paper. Use tape to go around the edge of the cylinder where it meets the paper. Here, you are taping the paper to the cylinder. You can line this seam with glue to hold better and last longer. After you have attached the paper to the cylinder, flip the cylinder over and cut the paper so that it lines up with the edges of the cylinder. This is the top of the hat.
Step 4
Place another piece of paper on the table. Set the cylinder on top of the paper. Trace the cylinder onto the paper. You need to make a second circle on this paper. Depending on how big you want the brim of the hat to be, measure a circle with same center having a radius two inches larger than the one you just traced. An easy way to do this is to attach a string to your pencil and hold the string down in the center of the circle. Increase the length of the string by 2 inches from where the pencil hits the original circle.
Step 5
After you have drawn the two circles, cut out the brim. Poke a hole through the center of the paper so that you can get your scissors inside to cut out the opening without damaging the brim.
Step 6
Cut eight 1/4-inch slits along the bottom edge of the cylinder, spaced equally around the cylinder. These slits allow you to bend up a small lip on the cylinder to easily connect it to the brim. Simply place the cylinder on top of the brim and glue the lip you have just made to the brim. You can also use tape for a quicker finish. After your eight lip sections have been connected to the brim, your top hat is finished.
Tip
Turn the paper being used for the cylinder so that the longer edge is parallel with the floor. Masking tape works better for taping the top of the hat than clear tape.
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