How to Make a Marionette for Kids
Marionettes have been a popular source of entertainment, with their life like movement, for children and adults for centuries. A marionette is a puppet that is jointed to give the puppet complex movement allowing them to sit, stand, dance, and walk. The marionette is controlled by strings or wires attached to the joints of the arms and legs. The strings are attached to pieces of crossed wood that make up the controls. Movement is created by holding the wooden controls above the marionette and manipulating the strings using the controls.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Scissors
- Paper fasteners
- Card stock
- String
- Craft stick or wooden dowels
- Craft glue
- Colored markers
- Googly eyes
- Needle
Instructions
-
-
1
Draw a pattern for your marionette puppet, for example draw a frog, puppy, clown, or a football player. Each arm pattern has 2 parts, upper arm that stops at the elbow and a lower arm with hand or paw. Each leg has 2 parts, a thigh that stops at the knee, and lower leg with calf and foot or paw. The torso is one piece with the head attached to it. Draw a separate pattern for each body part. Trace the pattern on card stock and use scissors to cut out the shapes.
-
2
Use a pin to make a starter hole then insert a paper fastener to join the joints together. Place a paper fastener in the elbow to join the 2 arm pieces. Attach the arms with a paper fastener at the shoulders. Insert a paper fastener to join the lower leg and upper leg at the knee. Use a paper fastener to attach the leg to the torso at the hip. Use markers to draw the face, shoes, clothing, or paws. Glue 2 googly eyes on the face.
-
-
3
Design the movement you want for you marionette puppet. For example, attach a string to the hands to raise the entire arm. If you want more movement, attach a string to the elbow and a separate string to the hand giving the arm jointed movement. The same applies to the legs. Experiment with movement by taping the string to the back of the puppet on different parts. Once you have established the movement and design of the strings, attach the string using a needle to push the string from the back to the front of the puppet then from the front to the back, and tie a knot large enough to secure the string. Repeat this until all the strings are secured on the puppet.
-
4
Glue 2 craft sticks together into a cross, with equal sides, making the controls, and let the glue dry thoroughly. Depending on the design of your string assembly you may need more that one set of controls.
-
5
Tie the strings to the controls. You can tie the strings that control the arms to one control and the strings that control the legs to another control to give the puppet more movement.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
When tying the string to the controls make sure the puppet parts are in a resting position and make the strings the same length for each leg and the same for each arm.
An adult should handle the needle and inserting the paper fasteners to protect children from injury.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
