Making Paper Epaulettes

The children really love getting into the nitty-gritty of "soldier stuff"---things like which order the ranks go in, how many troops in a regiment or a compant, what the different types of light artillery and heavy artillery are called, etc. On one of the days we were discussing military officers, we made epaulettes. They were really easy to make out of cardstock.

You just cut out a big ellipse shape from cardstock

and fold it in half. Then cut fringe all around the curved edges. Next, cut the paper in half,

bend the fringe downward, and attach a string between epaulettes. This string can tuck under your collar and keep the epaulettes from falling off your shoulders!

The children decorated their epaulettes with various badges of rank (Seb is a 6-star general!)

I think, along with the tricorn hat and the little straps I pieced together (with leftover muslin from the mob caps), these epaulettes make for quite a nice soldier uniform!