Welcome to another Wacky Workshops project – easy puppets to make.

Kids love to play with puppets and I think it’s empowering for them because they are the manipulators.

Puppet play is also a wonderful way to foster imagination and creativity.

You don’t have to break the budget to offer your children an array of puppets to play with.

These ones are made from paper and cardboard.

5 EASY PUPPETS – THE PRINCE OR PRINCESS PUPPET

I love this idea, and it’s so simple.

MATERIALS

• Cardboard Roll
• Thin cardboard. Coloured paper (or colour white paper yourself)
• Wool
• String
• Scissors
• Glue
• Hole punch

METHOD

• Cut a piece of coloured paper so that it fits around the cardboard roll and goes about halfway up.
• Cut along one edge to form a fringe and glue onto the bottom half of the roll for the princess dress. If making a prince, double the paper and put a large V shape from the wide edge to form pants.
• Glue this to the bottom of the roll, about 2 cm away from the edge.
• Cut another piece of coloured paper so that it fits on the top half of the roll and glue into place for the top.
• Use the hole punch to make holes on each side of the roll about 2 cm from the top.
• Cut two pieces of string about 8 cm each and tie them to each hole to form arms. These are the puppet manipulators.

• Cut a piece of thin cardboard about 8 cm high and 12 cm wide.
• Cut this in half to make two 12 wide pieces.
• Draw facial features in the middle one piece.
• Glue the ends of this piece together and attach to the top of the roll to form a head.
• Decorate the other piece and then make zigzag cuts along the wide edge and glue the short ends together to form a crown.
• Glue some glue to the top of the head and then the crown on top.

5 EASY PUPPETS – THE DRAGON PUPPET

MATERIALS

• Coloured construction paper
• Coloured tissue paper
• ScissorS
• Glue
• 2 x wooden rods
• Markers
• Sticky tape

METHOD

• Start by cutting out the face shape, as per the picture, from some coloured paper.
• Cut contrasting coloured paper into curves that will fit against the back of the dragon head and fringe them.
• Glue them into place.

• Use the markers to add facial features.
• Cut long strips from two different coloured sheets of paper.
• Fold them, accordion-style, to form the body.
• Cut long strips from the tissue paper and add those to the end of the body for the tale.
• Use sticky tape to attach the wooden rods to the body of the dragon to make it move.

5 EASY PUPPETS – THE PINNOCHIO PUPPET

This is a great one for the littlies as it’s so easy. It’s good for helping them practice shape drawing.

MATERIALS

• Cardboard, like from a cereal box
• Markers
• Scissors
• 9 x paper fasteners

METHOD

• Draw the shapes. One large rectangle (body), two smaller triangles, (legs) two ‘L’ shapes (for the bottom of legs and feet), 4 smaller rectangles (arms), one circle with a triangle on top for the head.

• Cut out the shapes and attach them together using the paper fasteners. This way the arms and legs are moveable.
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• Use the markers to decorate.
• Poke a pencil where the nose would go to create a Pinocchio puppet.

5 EASY PUPPETS – THE GIRAFFE PUPPET

This is a marionette puppet that can be manipulated with strings.

MATERIALS

•  2 x cardboard rolls
• Coloured paper in contrasting colours
• Scissors
• Sticky tape
•  Hole Punch
• 2 x wooden road (chopsticks work well)
• Markers
•  Paint (optional

• String

METHOD

• Decorate the rolls with giraffe style spots. You can paint them or use markers or coloured paper.

• Cut long strips of paper from two different coloured sheets and fold them accordion style. These need to be quite long as they are four the legs. Repeat the process four times – the extra one is for the neck.

• Fold another couple of strips – much smaller – accordion-style, for the giraffe’s horns (called ossicones).
• Attach the legs, neck and ossicones to the rolls using sticky tape.
• Draw facial features to the top roll.
• Use string or sticking tape to make a cross from the wooden rod or chopsticks.
• Use to hole punch to make a hole at each end of the bottom roll and one end of the top roll.
• Attach long string to each of these and tie the other end of the string to the crossed rods.

5 EASY PUPPETS – PUPPY HAND PUPPET

It does get much easier than this little hand puppet.

MATERIALS

• A4 Paper
• Scissors
• Markers

METHOD

• Cut the paper in half lengthways.

• Fold one strip in half – short end to short end.
• Fold the open edge up towards the folded end.

• Add sticky tape to the side of this to create a pouch for the fingers.
• Flip the paper over and fold the open edge up toward the folded end.
• Sticky tape the side of this together to form a pouch for the thumb.
• The opening with the two folded edges is the mouth.
• Cut a tongue shape from a piece of paper and glue it to the bottom of the mouth.
• Add facial features and ears to the top of the paper.
• Place fingers in the pouch behind the dog’s head and thumb in the pouch under the mouth and make the dog ‘talk’.

Check out how to make a magnetised puppet theatre.

Want more fun crafting ideas? Check my Pinterest board for inspiration.

Happy crafting and have a gleeful week, Tamuria.