SIMPLE PUPPETS

FINGER PUPPETS

• Wrap 1” strips of paper around your fingers and tape.
• Draw faces and other features on with marking pens.

STICK PUPPETS

• These can be easily made by cutting people or animal shapes out of cardboard.
• Then taping a craft stick or drinking straw on the back to use as a handle.
• Characters can be colored with marking pens.

FELT MIT PUPPETS

• You will need to make a puppet shape pattern, a head, two arms and a body section.
• Then lay your pattern on top of two pieces of felt.
• Cut around the pattern to create two puppet shapes.
• Then by hand, or on a sewing machine, sew around your puppet shape, leaving the bottom side unsewn, so that you can stick your hand up into the puppet.
• Decorate the front of your puppet with colorful felt scraps.

PAPER BAG PUPPETS

• Take a small lunch sack and lay it flat.
• Using felt scraps or marking pens decorate the bottom of the sack to represent a face.
• To use the puppet, stick your hand up into the sack, keeping the bottom flap pointed down. 

CUP PUPPETS

• Finger Nose Puppet – Turn a small paper cup up-side-down.  Poke a hole in the middle of one side of the cup.  This will become a nose hole.  Using a marking pen decorate around the hole to resemble a face.  Glue on some yarn hair.  Now stick your hand up into the cup and stick a finger out through the hole, to create the nose for your puppet.
• Pop-Up Puppet – Place a small Styrofoam ball on the end of a plastic drinking straw.  Then take a small paper cup and make a hole in the bottom of the cup.  Decorate the ball to resemble a face, add hair or a hat to make it more interesting.  Now stick the straw down through the hole.  You can manipulate the straw up and down to make the puppet appear and disappear.

MAGNET PUPPETS

• Magnet puppets can be made simply by cutting out people or animal shapes from light cardboard.
• Decorate the shape with marking pens to create the character you desire.
• Then attach a small magnet strip to the back of the shape.
• Place the puppet on a metal pancake flipper to move about.

SMALL PAPER PLATE PUPPETS

• Take a small paper plate and decorate it to resemble a character in your story.
• Attach a large craft stick to the bottom back of the plate to use as a handle.

STUFFED ANIMAL PUPPET

•  You can purchase a small animal puppet or you can make one by finding a discarded stuffed animal and opening the middle back and removing some of the stuffing.
• Then stick your hand up into the animal with one finger up into the head and a finger stuck into each arm.
• You should be able to manipulate the stuffed animal to move its head and arms.