Favorite Scientist Dress up Day

My older kids would have picked Bill Nye. They loved watching him. Just a white lab coat, jeans and sneakers. Maybe goggles if you have them.

Einstein - you can buy a wig at the costume or party store, and make a sign that says "E=MC 2" (I can't make the "squared" sign on my keyboard but you know what I mean.

I think you have to avoid Stephen Hawking because of the physical disability & wheelchair plus his misshapen body - so be careful on that. Maybe you could do a young Hawking with a cane and glasses.

Marie Curie - long dress, radium or radiation symbol

Pasteur - make it funny with a few cartons of pasteurized milk?

Galileo - beard, old style coat, telescope, photo of current solar system since he set the scientific world on its ear with heliocentrism vs. geocentrism.

Bill Nye - jacket, bow tie, sign saying "Climate Change is Real!" (He's been very vocal on this)

Neil DeGrasse Tyson - black mustache, model of solar system (he just did the Cosmos series)

Carl Sagan - same with Cosmos. Make a sign for around the neck that says "The cosmos contains BILLIONS and BILLIONS of stars" - he was famous for that and the late night comedians always imitated the way he said that.

Jaques Cousteau - snorkel, goggles, carry flippers over the arm or hang them off a belt, carry a model of a shark (either a toy or a cut-out on a stick)

Newton - old style wig (think British judge), carry a cut-out of an apple tree (mount on cardboard) with a big apple dancing from one branch.

James Watson - glasses, sort of a nerdy hairstyle (not as wild as Einstein but he's a little disheveled - I met him years ago) - with a model of the Double Helix (make your own or buy at the toy store)

Charles Darwin - Make a book cover that says "Origin of the Species" and decorate the back of it with a map of the Galapagos islands, carry a toy iguana or lizard

Ben Franklin? - Kite with a key?

Edison - make a lightbulb out of a balloon and papier mache?

Alfred Nobel - wear an older style suit (any dark jacket), with a medal like the Nobel prize, carry a small bundle of paper towel tubes with strings coming out of them to look like several sticks of dynamite with fuses coming out (write TNT on them).

Jane Goodall - gray wig tied back, tan shorts & shirt, toy chimpanzee, binoculars around the neck

Dian Fossey - clothes similar to Goodall, but with dark hair and a toy gorilla (or photo of a silverback gorilla)

DS was Jacques Cousteau for Halloween one year. He wore a turtleneck sweater, black beret, and we made him some scuba tanks (two liter bottles and a bunch of clear tubing).

What a great idea. So much better than last week's Disney dress up day.

Does it have to be a real scientist, or can it be a fictional one? Perhaps a white lab coat with "It's pronounced FRONK-EN-STEEN!" on the back.

Pick me pick me! Oh, wait, I'm not famous ;)

I'd ask your child what he likes best about science and go from there. You have some great ideas, so does he like astronomy? underwater creatures? dinosaurs? wild animals? Then look up a scientist in that field.

I won't try to top Diane B's creative costume ideas.

bill nye the science guy. blue lab coat, white shirt and bow tie and wala your good to go. kids love bill nye.

Maybe they have been talking to the kids about famous scientists, did you ask the teacher, or your son?
I'm probably in the minority but I actually love costumes and dressing up, so I'd probably talk to my child about what scientists do and wear and come up with an outfit together, maybe a lab coat and goggles. One of dad's white button down shirts and some swim goggles would do the trick. You could even write Professor so and so on a piece of masking tape with a sharpie and stick it on the upper left side of the shirt.

I love those assignments!! I think it's fun to research and learn with your child and then construct a costume together.
What I did was think outside the box. Many famous scientists worked in other fields as well. We chose a woman, but since you have a boy how about Guion S. Bluford? He was an astronaut, pilot, and scientist so you have more costume opportunities!
We did this long before Pinterest. I bought two white placemats and some bike reflectors at the resale shop. I taped them together and taped two empty two liter bottles to the back with orange yellow and red curling ribbon at the bottom. I glued the reflectors and some nasa printouts to the front. Then I bought a bucket from the dollar store and cut a hole in the front.

You could mix the pilot aspect in too. her assignment was famous African Americans and most of the kids chose the same people. I thought it was a lot more fun for us to learn about the person together.

nicola tesla!
have lightning bolts shooting out of his fingertips!
(i would have no idea how. i'm awful at costumes. but what a fun theme!)
:) khairete
S.

Honestly, I think there are a bunch of people out there looking for more stuff to do. 😜
Telescope and robe for Galileo? Make O. from paper towel roll maybe?
If I was in your shoes, I'd try to find a very obscure scientist and yak those teachers to school! Lol

You could put a radioactive symbol on a beaker and have Marie Curie carry it around. Pasteur could have a toy syringe and maybe a clip board with some vaccines on it. Steven Hawkins could have a toy computer with him. Doesn't he also often dress in a suit? Several of them have beards. I agree with the robe and telescope for Galileo.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/scientists.html - here's a good list. Jane Goodall could dress in shorts (I think she wore shorts) and carry a stuffed toy. Bell could have an old phone. Etc.

In our house, our kids would probably choose Jaimie and Adam from Mythbusters. Probably not what the school meant, but it is where my children would take it. :)

Lol. All I thought of when I read this was the big bang theory from tv.

Great ideas! Really creative :)

I would let your child come up with this - I think that's the point to these types of activities. Does he/she have an interest like dinosaurs or weather, or oceans? Often teachers are more interested in seeing what kids themselves bring in to the classroom, and they will discuss why they chose what they did. I think it's all about discussion, so the more the child is involved in this, the better probably.

Sounds fun :) I bet there will be some creative ideas the kids come up with