Homemade Spoon Puppets
Puppets are a wonderful way to tell stories to children. They encourage children to role play and use their imaginations. Make an assortment of homemade spoon puppets to fit any story, using ordinary wooden mixing spoons. The handles of the spoons are the handles of the puppets and the bowl of the spoons create the heads. This basic shape allows for multiple character ideas. Spend quality family time with your children as they create their own spoon puppet people.
Things You'll Need
- Wooden mixing spoon
- White or tan acrylic paint
- Paint brush
- Fabric scrap
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Hand sewing needle and thread
- Hot glue gun
- Curly doll hair
- Blush and cotton swab
- Wooden skewer
- Black acrylic paint
- Craft glue
- 1/4-inch diameter wiggly eyes
- Fine tip black permanent marker
- Embellishments, ribbon bows or buttons
Instructions
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1
Paint a wooden mixing spoon, using white or tan acrylic paint. Allow the paint to dry.
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2
Cut a 6-inch wide by 8-inch long rectangle of fabric for the puppet's clothes. Sew a running stitch along one short end, a 1/2 inch from the raw edge.
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3
Wrap the rectangle around the handle of the spoon, with the stitched edge just below the bowl of the spoon. Pull the thread to gather the fabric around the handle. Stitch the ends of the gathered raw edge together. The open edge is the back. Finish off the thread. Twist the open edge to the front of the spoon and apply a dab of hot glue under the gathered edge to secure. Note: The back of the spoon bowl is the front of the homemade spoon puppet.
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4
Roll and fluff a palm-size wad of curly doll hair in your hands. Apply hot glue to the top and side edges of the spoon bowl and the inside front of the bowl. Place the hair in the glue to attach.
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5
Apply blush to the cheeks of the face, using a cotton swab. Dip the blunt end of a wooden skewer into black acrylic paint and dot a nose in the center of the face.
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6
Apply craft glue to the back of two, 1/4-inch diameter, wiggly eyes. Position the eyes 1/8 inch above the nose and 1/8 inch apart.
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7
Draw a smile on the face using a fine-tip black permanent marker.
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8
Hot-glue ribbon bows to the hair or buttons to the clothes for embellishments.
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Tips & Warnings
Experiment with different fabrics for the clothes. Lacy or floral fabrics work well for girl puppets and denim or corduroy fabrics work well for boy puppets.
Purchase small craft doll hats to add more personality to your homemade spoon puppets.
