How to Make a Cactus Costume

Begin by threading white wool into a large-eyed needle. Pull it through the front of the jumper, snip and tie to make lots of cactus thorns.

To make a pom pom, wind green wool around your hand about 50 times, to create a nice fat bundle. Tie the pom pom tightly with another piece to secure. Cut through the loops and trim to make the pom pom nice and neat. Repeat to make several more - we made 5 for our costume.

Draw a small flower template onto a scrap of card and use it to cut out 5 or 6 pink felt flowers.

Sew the pink flowers and green pom poms onto the jumper, reserving a couple for the hair band. If you like, you can add a dot of glue to each flower and add a tiny yellow pom pom to each one.

Measure your child's head and cut a piece of elastic to fit, with a slight overlap. Sew the ends together to fit. Then, sew two pom poms onto the elastic, then sew a flower on top of one of the pom poms.

Draw a plant pot shape, just a little bigger than your child's waist, onto a piece of corrugated card. Cut this out and paint using terracotta coloured paint. Once dry, add a line for the rim using black pen.

Glue more elastic onto the back of the plant pot about where the rim is. Measure around the waist and sew the two ends together with roughly an inch overlap.

Now you have a cactus costume ready to show off!