blue background image with circle frame of child in Captain Barnacles costume

Octonauts Costumes (DIY, No Sew)

Sarah Layton Home Life

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You have stumbled upon a non-crafting blog, with some haphazard crafting ideas. I am guessing you also have a kid in your life who loves Octonauts. And you can’t find an Octonauts costume online, because it appears they don’t exist? Do you also try to avoid sewing at all costs? Welcome, friends. Below are some cobbled-together ideas for an Octonauts Halloween costume, that your kid will love and you will get to re-use most of the components. Win-win.

My main strategy is buying an outfit base to look like the character (i.e. blue outfit for Barnacles, green for Tweak), then embellishing with DIY and small purchased items to customize into an Octonaut.

I have a 5-year-old going as Paani the Hydrologist this year! Scroll alllll the way down for that costume.

[Update: Octonauts has a handful of printable resources on Pinterest, including masks and an OctoWatch!]

Original Octonauts Crew Costumes

Photo Reference for the group:

Shared Octonauts Costume Components

Grab a pack of felt if you don’t have blue on hand. We used royal blue, light blue, and some yellow.

All Octonauts have a collar (see pattern).

You’ll need light blue and dark blue felt, plus Velcro.

Most Octonauts wear blue boots (except Peso).

Just use your kid’s rain or snow boots, wrap a piece of blue felt around the ankle part and connect in the back with Velcro. Boot covers done!

Most Octonauts have a hat.

  • Captain Barnacles has a captain’s hat (see the pattern I created)
  • Kwazii/Peso/Shellington/Dashi have small sailor hats with the Octonauts logo. I searched high and low for a blue sailor hat to no avail. You could try a blue bucket hat, a white sailor hat and try to paint it, or make the passable hat below with a paper bowl and plastic cup. It gets the job done.
  • Tweak only wears a pink headband.
A paper bowl with clear cup upside down inside
A homemade DIY Octonauts sailor hat with fabric covering a bowl and cup structure
Cut the rim off a paper bowl, cut a hole in the bottom so it fits better on a head. Cover with light blue fabric. Invert a small, wide-mouthed cup on the bowl, cover with light blue fabric. Print or trace/color an Octonauts logo. Add a dark blue line around the outside. Attach to whatever head covering or hat matches the Octonaut.

Captain Barnacles Costume

The costume that started our journey! Full Captain Barnacles costume post here.

Remember the felt / fabric glue / Velcro.

Costume Basics

(For more details and photos, see the Captain Barnacles costume full post with detailed instructions on how we made our version)

Animal Reference

Polar Bear (white paws, white round ears on top of head)

Photo Reference

Dashi Costume

Remember the felt / fabric glue / Velcro.

Costume Basics

  • Outfit Base: Brown tank top, pink skirt with white line around bottom, boots, two hair clips in front.
  • DIY: Octonauts sailor cap, collar, camera, blue boot covers
    • Chevron collar pattern (need light blue and dark blue felt, plus hook-and-loop closures)
    • Cut rectangles of blue felt to fasten around boot tops.
    • We have this mini digital camera that my son loves. It doesn’t have the handles like Dashi’s, but would serve as a prop that kids could keep using after Halloween.
    • Try puppy ears for extra authenticity, or use the basset hound template to make your own.

Animal Reference

Dachshund dog. Brown floppy ears (that look like hair in the cartoon.)

Photo Reference

Kwazii Costume

Remember the felt / fabric glue / Velcro.

Costume Basics

Animal Reference

Cat (orange fur)

Peso Costume

Remember the felt / fabric glue / Velcro.

Costume Basics

  • Outfit Base: No clothes — try to look like a penguin!
  • DIY: Collar, sailor hat, medical bag

Animal Reference

Penguin

Shellington Costume

Remember the felt / fabric glue / Velcro.

Costume Basics

  • Outfit Base: No clothes, use a brown outfit. Sturdy boots.
  • DIY: Otter ears, blue cross-body bag, Octonauts sailor hat, Octonauts collar, blue boot covers

Animal Reference

Sea otter, with brown fur and a light tan face.

Tweak Costume

Costume Basics

  • Outfit Base: Tweak doesn’t wear clothes; instead, use a light green/mint outfit with a pink headband and sturdy boots.
    • A set of mint pajamas may work, or opt for heavier fabric with matching pants + shirt.
    • Rabbit ears may be tricky paired with a headband. I would try a flat headband (Amazon or Target ideas) to get both the pink + bunny ears.
  • DIY: Octonauts collar, toolbelt, blue boot covers (affiliate links below).
    • Chevron collar pattern
    • Cut rectangles of blue felt to fasten around boot tops.
    • Cut blue felt to fit around your child’s waist, attach an Octonauts logo to the middle, and stick a wrench in the belt (I would cut a wrench shape out of cardboard and color/paint it silver, then attach with hook-and-loop)

Animal Reference

Rabbit, with mint-colored fur.

A photo reference for the whole crew:

More Octonuats Toys & Props

Fisher-Price makes Octonauts toys, but they’re fairly pricey. We found this amazing Octopod set (with working OctoAlert button!) in good shape on Mercari, so it’s worth perusing resale sites if you’re ok with “already loved” condition. If you’re looking for new, try these (Amazon affiliate links):

Also try eBay or similar sites for used Octo Alert buttons.

The official Octonauts YouTube channel has a costume tutorial from 2016 (the company they mention, Disguise, no longer offers Octonauts costumes). It does include a cool tutorial on a Gup from a cardboard box! Note we’ve also bought the mask and cape from Etsy, but we found the mask too uncomfortable (scratchy, eye holes too small, tight fit) to work as a costume.

Octo-Agents: Octonauts Above & Beyond Costumes

Paani the Hydrologist Costume

Costume Basics

Animal Reference

Macaque monkey (brown round ears on side of head, tufts of hair off neck under ears, mohawk on top, widows peak hairline)

Photo Reference

A close-up of the Octo-Agents’ Octo-Watch:

My oldest wanted to be Paani this year, so we directed our efforts on this costume. Hopefully we’ll learn more about the other Octo-Agents soon, and will update the post accordingly!