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Make Hand Puppets and Put on a Show

by Neighborhood-Kids.com4/4/2008 10:55:03 AM

If your kids are always chomping at the bit for the quarterly puppet shows at the Whatcom Museum, try bringing the wonder of puppet theatre home by creating your own puppets. It's not only a great afternoon craft activity, but it will also give your children a new toy to express their creativity and enjoy hours of make believe.

To make a Paper Bag Puppet, you’ll need:

Doing crafts together makes for a fun and creative family time.

• one brown lunch sack
• markers or crayons
• construction paper
• craft glue
• yarn

The face of a Paper Bag Puppet is made up of the bottom part of the bag and the part that is folded down. When you put your hand inside the puppet, the folded part can move up and down like a mouth.

Start by cutting out a piece of construction paper that will fit over the bottom part of the bag. This will make up the top part of the face. Either cut out shapes with construction paper or draw eyes, a nose, ears, and the top lip. When you’re done creating the face, glue it down on the bottom of part of the bag. Cut out pieces of yarn to make the hair and glue it to the top part of the face. When the bag is still folded, cut out and glue down or draw the bottom part of the lip. You can also give your puppet a tie or necklace or even an outfit.

You can also make hand puppets out of those unmatched socks that always seem to come out of the dryer without their mate.

To make a Sock Puppet, you’ll need:

• one unmatched sock
• craft glue
• googly eyes
• permanent markers
• yarn
• ribbon or other scraps of cloth
• optional: 2 buttons, needle and thread

  Now the kids can put on a show using their new puppets or just make believe during playtime.

Have your child "try on" the sock to see where the all features of the face should go in relation to the size of your child’s hand. The toes of the sock should be the puppet’s nose and heel will make up the bottom part of the lip; if your kids hands a little small, just pin the top part of the toe under or incorporate a long floppy nose into the puppet’s “character.”

If you make a special trip to the craft store, you can pick up a pair of fun “googly” eyes to glue on for the face, or you can draw the face with permanent markers (be careful not to let kids mark up their clothes and the table, or make sure that they’re wearing craft clothes and table is covered). If you or your kids are skilled with a needle and thread, you can sew buttons on for the eyes. And also use black or red yarn to make the lips and mouth. Give the puppet hair by gluing down pieces of yarn, just like the Paper Bag Puppet, and feel free to give the Sock Puppet any other decorative touches.

Once all the glue has dried, just slip your hand inside and you’re ready to put on a show. If you have a folding card table, turn it on its side, cover it with a table cloth and you have a readymade puppet theatre. If the kids enjoy this activity, you can pick out stories to plan out more shows to perform, creating puppets that are just for that story. When they’re ready to perform their play, invite the neighbors over or put on an after-dinner show for the grandparents.