How to Create Puppets With Kids
Making puppets with kids is a fun and easy project that even little hands can enjoy. Children will enjoy putting on puppet shows for their classmates, teachers and family. You can use puppet making to teach children stories, songs, history, and basic human and animal anatomy to turn the project into a learning experience as well as an enjoyable arts and crafts assignment.
Things You'll Need
- Sock
- Construction paper
- Felt
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Craft eyes
- Pipe cleaners
- Embellishments
- Paper bags
- Markers
- Paint
- Glue stick
- Craft sticks
Instructions
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Sock Puppets
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1
Cut out pieces of construction paper or felt to make the features for an animal or person that will fit onto an old sock. Let kids help create spots and other markings for animals or human facial features.
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2
Use a hot glue gun to attach felt and construction paper to the sock. Place body markings on the leg part of the sock and position the facial features on the foot, heel and toe of the sock so that children can place the sock on their hands to use as a puppet.
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3
Attach googly craft eyes to the upper portion of the toe of the sock or make your own out of felt or bits of fabric.
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4
Use pipe cleaners for arms or antlers and attach embellishments, such as plastic jewels or buttons, with hot glue. Poke the pipe cleaners through the material of the sock and bend them inside so that they will not fall off.
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5
Allow the hot glue to dry completely before allowing children to play with the sock puppet.
Paper Bag Puppets
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6
Lay a paper lunch bag flat on the table so that the flat formed by the bottom of the sack against the side of the bag lifts upward.
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7
Allow children to decorate the bag with markers, crayons, paint, glitter, stickers and anything else they choose.
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8
Use safety scissors to help children cut out whiskers, facial features and any other markings out of construction paper.
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9
Glue the pieces to the paper bag, creating the face on the bottom of the sack so that the flap can act as the puppet's mouth.
Stick Puppets
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10
Have children draw a person or animal on a piece of drawing paper and color it in with crayons, markers or paint.
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11
Help children use safety scissors to cut the figure out. Help young children who cannot draw well cut out a colored picture from a coloring or activity book.
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12
Glue the figure to a craft stick or washed popsicle stick to create a stick puppet.
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