make puppets

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EASY TO MAKE

STAGES

SCRIPTS

BIBLE

Make Puppets
It's Fun And Easy!

Looking for some simple ways to make puppets? A few recycled materials and a little imagination is all it takes to easily create a variety of interesting character puppets. Perhaps some of these old stand-bys will be helpful or will spark some new ideas.

• draw a scene on paper and glue it on the back and base of the box
• cutout cardboard figures and attach to straws
• poke holes in sides of box for straws to slide through
• box lid can be cut to make a pull up curtain

Shoebox Theatre

Cylinder Heads

• make 2 construction paper cylinders, one a bit smaller to fit inside the other
• cut two pieces of black paper for the mouth -glue one piece on the top cylinder and the other on the bottom cylinder
• decorate the rest of the head and add a paper handle to the back of the top cylinder
• slide the bottom cylinder up and down to make the puppet talk

Wooden Spoons

Mops and Dusters

•paint a face on either side of the spoon, add hair with wool
•braid arms out of wool
• wrap with small piece of material

• glue or tape eyes, nose, mouth, ears etc. to make humorous characters

Egg Carton Centipede

Paper Bag

• use a small square-bottom paper bag
• fold over part becomes the mouth

• cut the bottom of an egg carton in half
• add legs and antennae with pipe cleaners

Styrofoam Ball

• with fingers poke indentations into ball to make eye sockets and brow, cheeks, nose and some definition or the mouth
• colour face with markers, add hair with wool or felt
• cut and sew a body shaped piece of material
• poke a hole into the bottom of the head and glue in the neck of the material body

Pop-up

• small styrofoam ball for head
• wooden skewer for stick
• conical plastic coffee cup liner
• cut out material for body and glue or sew sides together and glue onto rim of cup
• poke stick up through cup and material
• glue material and stick into head
• clip memory fact card to arms if used for practice game

Animal Marionettes

Use a variety of sizes of paper or plastic cups to create an animal marionette - also called a string puppet.

View the plans.

Overhead Shadows

• draw scenes on acetate
• cut out tiny shadow characters from cardboard
• attach to thin sticks or strips of stiff cardboard to move around on overhead scenery

Glove Puppets

Great for retelling fables in English or French!

• find some gloves
• make a variety of characters by folding fingers in different ways
• decorate as much as you like

View the plans

After you make puppets, build a stage and perform your play!

Need More Plans for Puppets?

Try these links:
Lois Walker - Paper Cup Marionette

The Puppeteers' Cooperative - 68 Ways to Make Really Big Puppets

Puppet Builder - detailed plans for foam puppets

Crochet Finger Puppets - fairy tales at your fingertips

Try some other Stimulating Activities for Children

Quick Jump to our latest additions:

Animal Marionettes - main materials .... paper or plastic cups, construction paper, string, craft sticks

Animal Glove Puppets - main materials .... stray gloves, craft foam or construction paper

Make Puppets It's Fun And Easy!

Make Puppets
It's Fun And Easy!