How to Make Noah's Ark Finger Puppets
Make Noah's Ark finger puppets with the kids to help teach them the popular Bible story. They'll love to help make the puppets and act out the rescue of the animals from the flood. The project doesn't have to be complicated and is inexpensive if you use old pieces of felt, or other material, found around the house. Just four or five types of animal puppets are enough to illustrate the story.
Things You'll Need
- Pieces of different-colored felt at least three inches square -- two of each
- Regular needle
- Colored cotton thread to match the felt
- Scissors
- Black thread or marker
- Wobbly eyes (optional)
Instructions
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Buy or find pieces of felt in different colors. Yellow, grey, green and pink felt will make lion, elephant, frog and pig finger puppets. If you are recycling old felt, see what colors you find before deciding which animals to make. If buying the materials, get colors appropriate for your chosen animals. You only need small pieces of felt, but they need to be at least 3 inches square.
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Use sharp scissors to cut the pieces of felt in half -- lengthwise, if they are not square -- and secure them flat together using a couple of pins.
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Cut out 1 1/2-inch wide rectangles that are long enough to cover the length of the wearer's fingers. Round them off at one end to form long U-shapes. Take the pins out, if you have not already needed to do so while cutting out the shapes.
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Sew around the edges of the U-shapes with cotton thread that matches the color of the felt. Sew three or four stitches over the same place at the beginning and end to prevent the thread from unraveling later. Leave the flat end of the U-shape open. Alternatively, join the two shapes together around the outside using fabric glue. Again, leave the flat end open.
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Glue or sew distinguishing features on the finger puppets. When the puppets are on fingers, the U-shape is upside-down with the rounded part at the top. For the lion, glue short lengths of orange wool in a fringe around the facial area on the yellow puppet. Cut large ears and a long trunk from gray felt and glue on the gray puppet for the elephant. Turn the green puppet base into a frog by adding large, round eye-shapes at either side of the top of the head and a wide, upside-down triangular nose-shape -- draw this on in black marker, or sew on with black thread. Similarly, for the pig, stick on stubby, pink triangles for ears and draw or sew on a round snout-shape. For all puppets, either make eyes from a thick layer of over-sewn thread, or stick on the ready-made wobbly eyes that you can buy at craft shops.
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Tips & Warnings
Sew or draw on with marker any other features you wish.
If recycling, other fabrics may do instead of felt, but choose material that will not easily fray. Also use fabric glue, not thread, to join the pieces together. This will help prevent fraying. Use construction paper for cheaper, but less long-lasting, puppets.
Remember that the animals entered the ark in pairs, so make two of each puppet.
Do all cutting and gluing that requires sharp scissors or non-child friendly adhesives yourself. Don't let children use these things.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images
