How to Make Stick Puppets From Christmas Cards

These tin soldiers are ideal for Christmas card puppets.

This craft project is a great way to recycle old Christmas cards. Instead of packing away greeting cards that your family receives in boxes and storing them for eternity, use the cards with figures on them to make adorable little stick puppets for your child. Your child will enjoy selecting the cast for his shows from Christmas cards past, and you will enjoy seeing those beautiful pictures come to life in puppet show after puppet show.

Things You'll Need

• Old Christmas cards
• Scissors
• Glue
• Popsicle sticks

Instructions

1. Select some Christmas cards to be used for making puppets. Make sure you approve all selections before giving your child the go-ahead to cut up the cards. You need to make sure that you are not allowing any sentimental treasures to be sliced and diced along with the more common, simply signed cards. The cards should have figures on them that can be cut out, such as Santas, elves, tin soldiers or animals. You will need to decide with your child if you think creating a Nativity puppet series is an acceptable project. If not, then remove religous cards from the stack.

2. Cut the figures out of the cards. You can cut out props that are attached, such as Santa's big bag or a shepherd's crook, but leave out trees and other inanimate objects. You should not have more than one figure per piece.

3. 

   Glue the figures to the tops of the Popsicle sticks. You will only need to glue the top quarter of the stick to the figures, as they should stand up on their own since the greeting cards are rather stiff and sturdy. Now, you are ready to host your own series of Christmas-themed puppet shows.

Tips & Warnings

• You can create a stage by cutting the bottom out of a cardboard box and allowing your child to use other parts of the cards to decorate the backdrop. Then, prop the box between two chairs and your child can reach through the hole in the box to make the stick puppets move.