How to Make Pompom Marionettes

Make your own marionette at home.

A puppeteer controls a marionette through wires or strings attached to a stick. As the puppeteer moves the stick side-to-side and front-to-back, the marionette moves in different ways. Make your own bird marionette at home, using pompoms for the head and body. Making the bird marionette will not take long. Once you have mastered making the bird marionette, with a little thought you can design pompom marionettes that look like different animals or even people. Practice will also help you to control your marionette with greater ease.

Things You'll Need

• 2 pipe cleaners
• Pencil or pen
• Glue
• 2 large pompoms
• 2 small pompoms
• Scissors
• Foam sheet
• Wiggly eyes
• 2 pieces of yarn, each 18 inches long
• Craft stick

Instructions

1. Twist one pipe cleaner around a pencil or pen to make the bird's legs. Bend the pipe cleaner in the middle.

2. Apply glue to the middle of the pipe cleaner. Press a pompom against the glue on the pipe cleaner until the two bond, making the bird's body.

3. Glue two smaller pompoms to the ends of the pipe cleaner to make the bird's feet.

4. Cut a pipe cleaner in half and twist it around the pencil or pen. Apply glue to both ends of the pipe cleaner, then press it against the bird's body on one end and a new larger pompom on the other end to make the bird's head.

5. Cut triangular wings out of foam, then attach them to the bird's body using glue. Glue wiggly eyes to the head and another foam triangle to make the beak.

6. Tie one of the 18 inch pieces of yarn to the bird's neck, just below the head. Tie the other piece of yarn around the top of the bird's legs. Tie the other ends of the yarn pieces to either end of the craft stick.

References

• MakingFriends.com: Bird Puppet