Scarves make animal costumes

Take your kids on a DIY scarf safariMade from colorful fleece, these scarves will have your kids looking like one cool cat (or dog, or shark, or snake). (Templates can be found at www.startribune.com/a212).

Cat

Cut a long piece of fleece for the body (ours measured 6 by 54 inches), trimming out legs at each end.

Cut out a fleece face and sew it on with embroidery floss. Sew on stacks of two buttons for eyes. For whiskers, fold a small piece of fleece in half, cut three slits on the unfolded edges, and unfold the fleece. Attach the whiskers with embroidery floss while stitching the nose and mouth. For the tail, cut a long, narrow strip of fleece and knot it at one end. Sew it to the scarf, through the knot.

Dachshund

Cut a long piece of fleece for the body (ours measured 6 by 52 inches), trimming out legs at each end. Cut out a fleece face and faux fur ears and sew them on with embroidery floss. Sew on a felt tongue and a button nose and eyes. For the tail, cut a faux-fur triangle. Fold it in half lengthwise, stitch it closed, and sew it to the scarf.

Snake

Shark

Place the head template on one end of a long piece of fleece (ours measured 9 by 60 inches), with the fin template directly behind it. Place the tail template at the opposite end.

Use a straightedge to draw a line connecting the templates (the body should be about 6 inches wide), then cut out the shark. Cut teeth from white fleece and secure them with fabric glue. Sew on a button eye with embroidery floss and snip five to seven gill slits.