How to Build a Puppet Stage Out of Cardboard
Putting together a home-made puppet theater can give you creative enjoyment. You can make a theater from materials that you have around the house or that you buy from a craft store. You can also use materials that you recycle from businesses to keep the environment clean. Involving children in the process of creating the theater will make the craft more meaningful to them when they use their new hobby of puppetry.
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Things You'll Need
- Refrigerator box
- Yardstick
- Markers
- Box cutter or craft knife
- Fine sandpaper
- 4-by-1/2-inch dowel rod
- Curtains
- Paint
- Duct tape
- Plastic jugs with sand
- Drill with bits
Instructions
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Creating Puppet Theaters
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1
Get a refrigerator box from an appliance store. Be sure that the box does not have holes that will spoil the appearance of the box. Use a box cutter or craft knife to cut off the bottom and top of the refrigerator box. Have an adult do this part of the project so that children do not harm themselves.
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2
Hold a yardstick along the vertical length and in the center of the box. Draw a vertical line, using the yardstick as a guide, with a dark marker from the top of the box to the bottom. Cut along this line and turn the box inside out so the clean side of the box faces the audience. Lay the box down and measure a window in the front of the box. Cut out the window with the box cutter or craft knife. Sand the window with fine sandpaper so there are no rough edges.
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3
Put the cut box on newspaper so the surface underneath does not get dirty. Paint the refrigerator box with a base coat of tempera paint or with paint that you have left over from home projects. Be careful that you do not use paint that has lead in the mixture because lead is a hazard to health. Let the base paint dry. Decorate the sides of the refrigerator box with ornamentation such as flowers or, if you are not using real curtains, painted curtains.
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4
Cut or drill holes behind the window at either side of the box. Sand the holes with sandpaper. Run a 4-by-1/2-inch dowel rod between the two holes. Thread curtains on the dowel. Affix the dowel with duct tape at either end to secure the dowel to the theater. Make sure that the curtains are loose and of a fabric like polyester that will easily slide on the dowels so that you can open and shut the curtains.
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5
Rinse out old plastic gallon jugs, let these dry and fill with sand. Put the lids on the jugs so that the sand does not spill. Weigh down the theater box with the jugs so that the theater does not tip over during the performance.
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