It's that time again! For this week's post I decided I would reach out to our cosplay/Halloween enthusiasts and provide a tutorial on how to create this adorable Mario Kart for strollers or other adaptive equipment such as walkers or wheelchairs.
I am a self-declared fiend for home-made Halloween costumes. There will be future posts on my stepsons' glorious costume designs but for now we are going to focus on my daughter's award-winning Yoshi battle kart (and by award-winning I mean we won a $25 gift certificate to our local comic book store).
Mario Kart remains the only video game I can consistently boast any proficiency in. Yoshi has always been my favorite character (except for a brief tryst with Bowser on the N64 platform only because his additional weight made for some excellent drifting). Ever since the Wii (and now Switch) came out I am back to my first love...Yoshi on a motorcycle.
This design will require a little bit of creativity because you will need to create the cardboard pattern for whatever base you are using...as there are thousands of different strollers, walkers, and wheelchairs on the market I unfortunately cannot create a set template for everyone to follow.
What you will need:
LOTS of cardboard -- we had just remodeled our bathroom and were able to use the enormous cardboard box the bathtub came in...while you can easily piece the kart together out of several different boxes, it is much easier if you are using large pieces.
LOTS of duct tape -- You will need AT LEAST:
3x rolls of the main color (since we are doing a Yoshi kart we opted for green, but you could easily make this a Mario, Luigi, Bowser, or Princess Peach kart!)
2x rolls of heavy duty duct tape for under-layer (I opted for Gorilla Tape)
1x roll of accent color
1-2x rolls of white duct tape
1x roll of black duct tape
Zip Ties
X-acto Knife or similar
Hood ornament -- Since we opted for a Yoshi kart, I just picked up a wooden oval from Walmart and painted to look like a Yoshi egg:
Let's Get Crafting!!
Step 1:
Select your base (stroller, walker, or wheelchair) and cut out two very large squares that are larger than the sides
Next--hold up one piece of cardboard against the side of the base and sketch with pencil the angles you will need to cut into the square so it fits around the base. For this jogging stroller I chose to make the sides fit underneath the sunshade and run along the tray in the front.
Decide where you will be attaching the sides. I chose to connect the cardboard to the stroller using zip ties at the top-most corners and in the bar connecting the front wheel to the chassis. If you look closely, you can see where I punched two holes in the center of the cardboard to run the zip tie through.
Step 2:
With both sides temporarily zip-tied in place, determine how wide you want the angular pieces to be (I just eyeballed this, I believe it ended up being 5.25")
Cut out two pieces of cardboard at the width and the exact same length as the end of your side pieces. Duct tape the angular pieces at about a 45-degree angle to each side piece while it is still attached to your base (stroller, walker, wheelchair).
Measure the distance between your angular pieces and cut another piece of cardboard that is the same length.
For this Graco jogging stroller, my dimensions were as follows:
Front Piece: 11" W x 23" L
2x Angular Pieces: 5.25" W x 23" L
Side Pieces:
Step 3:
Duct tape all edges and corners together!
Step 4:
Cover the ENTIRE thing in a base of duct tape (this can be the cheap silver stuff, no one will see it. This step is particularly important if you live in humid climates. I opted for Gorilla Tape for this step
**If you notice the interior of the cardboard appears green, this is because I initially thought I could spray paint the kart...but using cardboard as a base means the spray paint simply makes the cardboard soggy and lifts the individual fibers of the paper, the overall effect was a mushy kart with pilling paper on the surface.
Step 4:
Now cover the entire kart in yet another coat of duct tape. Start with you base color and layer each strip at a slight angle, following the angle of your side piece's cut-out.
To make the checkered flag effect, first lay two strips of your accent color (mine was neon yellow-green) so that about .25" will be showing on either side of your black strips. Then place two strips of black duct tape long-wise from the back to the front of your side piece. If you buy 2" wide duct tape, it's an easy calculation, place the accent color with a .5" gap in the middle, then when you place your black strips you will have exactly .25" showing on the top and bottom.
With two strips, your black band should now be 4" wide. Cut out 2" x 2" squares of white duct tape and place them over the black in an alternating pattern until you have completed your checkered flag detail.
Step 5:
Cover your angular pieces in white duct tape and your center front piece in the base color.
Use one strip of your accent color to cover the transition between base color and the white sections.
For the hood ornament, I simply painted the oval white and added little green spots. I glued it to the front at a slight angle and then outlined the egg with a little black craft paint.
Step 6:
You can choose to finish the inside, but I discovered once you reattach the unit to your stroller/walker/wheelchair the inside isn't really visible.
Attach two battery-operated pop lights to the front and you are done!
**Note: by adding some balloons to the back you can drive around in battle mode!**
Additional Steps:
While you are essentially done, I have added a few extra ideas to make your Halloween or cosplay especially fun and inclusive for the whole family!
1) For strollers, find a toy driver's dashboard and attach with zip ties to the stroller's front tray. This allows Baby to truly take those turns with style!
2) Make your own costumes! My stepmom provided the ADORABLE Yoshi hat and I designed and built the costumes:
3) Doggies like to trick-or-treat too!!
Try it out! Post your pictures, comments, or ideas below!
Thank you very much for following and stay tuned for more hacks, crafts, and project ideas.
Let's celebrate those Mad Mommin' Skills!
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