How to Make a Dog Marionette
Greek writers have chronicled the use of marionettes in theater dating back to 400 BC. These puppets were sometimes buried with children as a way of keeping them entertained in the afterlife. Today marionettes are still a popular form of children's entertainment. But the entertainment doesn't have to begin with a fully formed marionette. Children can make their very own marionette dog puppets as a craft project. After they finish the puppets, kids can also write their own plays and act them out using their puppets.
Things You'll Need
- 4 Popsicle sticks
- Craft glue
- String
- Scissors
- Slinky
- Men's brown tube sock
- Rubber bands
- 5 brown child-sized socks
- 4 ping-pong balls
- Fabric glue
- Red felt
- Brown felt
- Black felt
- Craft google eyes
Instructions
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1
Place a dot of craft glue on the center of a Popsicle stick. Place a second Popsicle stick over the glue crossways to the first stick to form an X shape. Repeat with a second set of Popsicle sticks. Cut a length of string into eight pieces that are 12 inches long. Glue one end of each string to each end of the Popsicle sticks. Allow the glue to dry.
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2
Place a slinky into the brown tube sock to create the dog's body. Place the mouth end of a brown child's sock into the mouth end of the tube sock and close the tube sock around the child's sock. Wrap a brown rubber band around the two socks to form the dog's tail.
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3
Stuff a ping-pong ball into the toe of the remaining four child's socks. Glue the child's socks to the tube sock with fabric glue to form the four legs.
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4
Cut a half-circle from the red felt and two half circles from the brown felt to form ears and a tongue. Cut a triangle from the black felt to form a nose. Glue these pieces of felt along with the google eyes with fabric glue onto the toe of the tube sock to form a face.
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Hold the Popsicle stick crosspiece over the back end of the dog puppet so that each ray of the X-shape aligns with the dog's body, each back foot and the tail. Shorten each string so that when you glue the string to each portion of the dog, the back end attachs to a short string, the tail attachs to a medium string and the two feet attach to long strings. Glue the strings to the dog's back end, tail and two feet with fabric glue.
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6
Hold the second X shape over the dog's front end so that each arm of the X-shape aligns with the dog's head, two front feet and body. Shorten the strings so that the head is higher than the body on a shorter string and the feet are longer. Glue the strings to the dog's body. Wait for the fabric glue to dry before playing with the marionette.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit marionette image by Vladislav Gajic from Fotolia.com
