How to Make a Colonial Hat for a Hand Puppet

Make a cute colonial bonnet for your hand puppets.

Hand puppets are an excellent tool for education, communication and fun. Broaden the repertoire of your hand puppets by making them colonial hats from paper. These easy-to-make crafts will act as props for your puppets so that they can play a number of different characters. These cute pilgrim hats are perfect for Thanksgiving-themed puppet shows. Make the hats with patterned scrapbooking or origami paper if you want to make a colonial-style hat that suits your hand puppet's outfit.

Things You'll Need

• 6-inch-by-9-inch piece of white paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Stapler with staples
• Ribbon

Instructions

1. Place the paper on your work surface in a landscape orientation (with the short sides on the left and right).

2. Fold the bottom edge closest to you up to make a 3/4-inch fold. Run your fingernail along the fold to crease the paper.

3. Measure 3 1/8 inches from the left side and make a mark at the top edge with the pencil. Measure 1/2 inch beyond the first mark and make a second mark. Make a third mark midway between the first two and 1 1/2 inches from the top edge of the paper. Join the dots to make a triangle. Repeat to make a second triangle on the right-hand side.

4. Make a third mark midway between the first two and 1 1/2 inches from the top edge of the paper. Join the dots to make a triangle. Repeat for the second triangle on the right-hand side.

5. Cut the triangles out. Lift up the paper and push the bit between the triangles in while pulling the corners of the triangle together. Staple these two corners together.

6. Cut two lengths of ribbon and staple one to each end of the side you folded earlier. These can be used to tie the bonnet under the chin of the hand puppet.

Tips & Warnings

• Decorate the colonial bonnet with beads, small plastic flowers or sequins.

• If you made the hat with white paper, use markers, crayons or paint to decorate it.

• Supervise young crafters who are using scissors.