More than costumes
Workshops to spark your child's imagination.
Costumes aren’t just for dress-up—they’re storytellers, time machines, and, often, powerful educational tools.
Inspired by the hands-on workshops I’ve been running at Luxembourg’s urban garden festival - LUGA, during 2025, these workshops are aimed to encourage children to think about their natural surroundings, while creating a beautiful piece of costume for themselves.
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Paint your own butterfly wings
Unleash your children's imagination with this butterfly painting workshop! Made from soft, high-quality cotton, the are designed and made by Atelier Spatz. Whether using brushes, sponges, or their fingers, kids can create their own one-of-a-kind butterfly wings to flutter away in —no rules, just creativity!
Perfect for some educational fun, this hands-on activity encourages artistic expression while sparking conversations about colour, nature, and the magic of transformation. A wonderful way to blend crafting, learning, and play into one beautiful, fluttery experience!
This workshop is aimed at children between 6-12 years old.
Smaller children are welcome, but will require the help of a parent or teacher.
Each workshop takes 1.5-2 hours.
Depending on the weather the wings will take some time to dry afterwards. In summer this can be 10 minutes in full sunshine, in winter several hours.
Butterfly wings, textile paints and brushes will be supplied.
Since textile paints can stain regular clothing permanently, I recommend for the children to wear old clothes or a painters frock.
To paint a butterfly each kids needs at least 60x60cm table space, ideally more. Table covers can be supplied.
The butterfly wings need to be printed and sewn in advance of the workshop. This takes about 4-5 weeks for 15 sets.
I recommend getting in touch as early as possible if you have a date in mind.
Nature's Crown Jewels
In this workshop can be done in two ways: either as a vegetable printing workshop or a flower printing workshop.
Flower printing:
Using hammers and fabric, children will decorate cotton crowns made by Atelier Spaty by transferring the natural colours and patterns of the flowers and plants onto the fabric of a cotton crown.
As we craft together, we’ll chat about the fascinating world of flowers—how they attract pollinators, the purpose behind their colours and shapes, and why they’re so vital to our environment.
Vegetable printing:
Don't let your old vegetables go to waste!
Together, we will carve simple stamp patterns into potatoes and discover the shapes of other vegetables, and use them to decorate cotton crowns.
There are no limits to what you can create with broccoli, courgettes and other colourful produce!
This workshop is aimed at children between 6-12 years old.
Smaller children are welcome, but will require the help of a parent or teacher.
All materials will be supplied. This includes a crown made in pure cotton by Atelier Spatz for each child, as well as hammers, flowers and leaves. Please get in touch if you would like to work with other textiles like cotton bags, aprons or T-shirts.
Each child needs sufficient workspace, this can be on a table or floor (for hammering).
Each workshop takes 1.5-2 hours.
The cotton crowns need to be sewn and primed for botanical printing in advance of the workshop. This takes about 4-5 weeks for 15 sets.
I recommend getting in touch as early as possible if you have a date in mind.
King and Queen of Nature
In this imaginative workshop, children create their own magical crowns with natural materials. Making flowers from felt and combining them with collected natural materials and colourful feathers we transform simple ribbons into magnificent headdresses.
Whether you are a flower fairy, the king of the forest or a fairy-tale princess, you will create unique works of art that will make every child shine!
This workshop is aimed at children between 6-12 years old.
Smaller children are welcome, but will require the help of a parent or teacher.
All materials will be supplied.
This includes ribbons, felt, feathers and dried natural material and hot glue guns.
If the children want to bring their own foraged and collected treasures like moss, sticks and dried leaves, they are very welcome.
Each workshop takes 1.5-2 hours.
To gather materials and prepare the felt backing for these crowns takes 1-2 weeks.
Other workshops
Creativity is a gift every child can develop, and making their own costumes is a powerful way to nurture it. When children design and create masks or capes, they’re not just crafting—they’re exploring emotions, storytelling, problem-solving, and self-expression. Through this hands-on process, they gain confidence, discover their creative voice, and learn to understand themselves and the world around them in deeper, more imaginative ways.
In the past I've offered longer workshop series making masks or capes together with children of different age groups. These workshop series generally take 4-6 weeks of 2 hour long weekly sessions and can be tailored to your institutional or group setting.
Papier Mache masks:
Creating an abstract papier-mâché mask invites a different kind of exploration. As children shape and paint their masks, they experiment with expressing feelings, moods, and characters. The process opens conversations about what it means to “hide” or “reveal” ourselves—why we sometimes put on a brave face, or how we can show who we are in different ways. It’s a safe, imaginative way for young learners to explore identity, empathy, and emotional understanding.
Cape making workshops:
Designing a cape brings together imagination and self-reflection. A cape can be a symbol of strength, care, or protection—it can help you feel safe, brave, or ready to help others. Whether a child imagines themselves as a superhero, a kind samaritan, or simply someone who wants to comfort a friend, the cape becomes a way to explore empathy and the desire to make a positive difference. It reminds children that caring for others and feeling protected ourselves are deeply connected.
Capes can be painted, sewn as patchwork, embroidered or stitched on with applique. Workshops can be adapted to the age group you have or the facilities in place.
This workshop is aimed at children between 6-16 years old.
Ideally, the workshops are embedded in a wider curriculum or even made for a play.
All materials will be supplied.
Each workshop takes 1.5-2 hours. A minimum of 4 workshops is required to finish a mask.
I recommend getting in touch as early as possible if you have a time of the year in mind.
Ready to embark on a journey of costume making?
Butterfly wings and cotton crowns are available in the shop for purchase. Larger orders will need 3-4 weeks lead time. If you want to run a workshop like this yourself, please don't hesitate to get in touch to source materials through me.