Vocabulary Parade Costume Idea: Feeling Ambivalent

Here’s a simple and fun idea for a Vocabulary Parade costume at school!

Show what it means to be ambivalent using graphic emojis and pipe cleaners–your kiddo will be happy, excited, and proud all at once!

See what I did there? ;)

Vocabulary Parade Costume Idea: Feeling Ambivalent

So, What The Heck Is A Vocabulary Parade??

Yeah, I had never heard of this either until a couple weeks ago when Rowan’s teacher sent a letter home about it. #KindergartenMom

Read Across America Week was coming up and this was going to be their BIG grand finale event for Friday.

Basically, a vocabulary parade is a newish activity that schools are starting to do thanks to a book called Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster.

Students and teachers are asked to pick a “juicy” word that would not only make for a fun and unique costume, but also one that others might not already know.

Then they’ll all march through their school and have a festive parade that showcases their DIY costumes as well as their love of words and reading.

Sounds pretty neat, actually.

We certainly never did anything creative like this when I was in school (which was a loooong time ago).

Rowan’s Vocabulary Parade Word Choice: Ambivalent

For his very first Vocabulary Parade, after much consideration, Rowan decided to go with ambivalent as his word of choice.

Merriam-Webster provides the following definition:

AMBIVALENT

having or showing simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings toward something or someone.

How did Rowan come up with this word, you might be wondering?

Well, we can all thank his younger brother’s obsession with Daniel Tiger and this catchy jingle from one of the episodes.

♪ ♫ ♪ Sometimes you feel two feelings at the same time, and that’s okay. ♪ ♫ ♪

Take THAT everyone who says screen time is rotting kids’ brains!

Vocabulary Parade Costume Supplies

Here’s what we used for Rowan’s vocabulary parade costume shirt:

• White t-shirt
• Printable Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV)
  • Learn more about this here
• Inkjet printer
• Emoji clipart
• Black pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun & sticks
• Silhouette Cameo
• Cricut EasyPress
• Cricut EasyPress Mat

And for his coordinating headband, we used this additional stuff:

• Sheet of glossy photo paper
• Sheet of yellow cardstock
• Glue stick
• Stapler

Vocabulary Parade Costume: Ambivalent Shirt Design Mockup

So here’s the (very rough) mockup of Rowan’s vocabulary parade costume that we came up with.

What’s better at showcasing a bunch of different emotions in a simple and graphic way than emojis??

Those would be printed out on my printer using some super handy printable HTV, then they would be cut out with my Silhouette Cameo and applied to the shirt using my Cricut EasyPress.

The black lines connecting the emojis represent pipe cleaners that would be attached to the shirt with some hot glue.

The Printable HTV Emoji Pieces

Once we were happy with the design, it was time to create!

The emojis were set up for a handy print and cut project (read more about that here) using my printer and some printable HTV (learn all out that stuff here) then cut out with my beloved Silhouette Cameo.

Once the emojis were printed and cut out, it was time for shirt assembly!

I recently upgraded my regular clothes iron to an amazing Cricut EasyPress, so applying all these little faces was a breeze.

I placed the EasyPress mat underneath the shirt, arranged the emojis, then as soon as my EasyPress was warmed up, started application.

Attaching the Pipe Cleaners

Once the emojis were all set, I fired up my hot glue gun and started to “connect” them with the pipe cleaners.

This was to really bring the ambivalence home by showing that you can feel all sorts of different combinations of emotions.

The Vocabulary Parade Costume Headband

For the vocabulary parade, the kids were asked to either hold a sign showcasing their chosen word or have it as part of their costume or on a hat or headband. 

Rowan decided on the latter, so I whipped up a simple design with his word and several more emojis in Photoshop Elements.

After printing it out on a sheet of glossy photo paper, I trimmed it up with scissors, attached it to a couple strips of yellow cardstock, then sized it to his head.

Rowan’s Ambivalent Vocabulary Parade Costume!

And here’s Rowan modeling his Ambivalent Vocabulary Parade costume!

When he put on the shirt followed by his headband and exclaimed “It’s perfect,” I knew we had a winner. :)

He and all the other kids (and teachers) looked so cute marching through the hallways of their school, showing off their creations.

Our first experience with a Vocabulary Parade was a lot of fun!

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