There is always one smart mouth little kid who loves to tell the magician, “You don’t do ‘real magic.'” To them, real magic is what you see on Bewitched, Harry Potter or Charmed. They believe real magic is doing the supernatural.
What they don’t understand is that what they believe to be real magic isn’t real at all. It is fantasy, trick photography and humbug. What they call “real magic,” does not exist.
Only God can do the supernatural. Only God could part the Red Sea, raise the dead and walk on water.
Unfortunately, the ones who claim we magicians do not perform real magic have a misunderstanding of what real magic is. When an audience member suspends their disbelief, they can experience real magic .
When I tie a rope into a loop and then clip the ends leaving an endless loop, free of knots, jaws drop. When I see an audience member’s jaw drop, or her the soft exclamation, “What the ….,” I know that person has just experienced real magic.
For a moment, they saw the impossible. Reality kicks back in pretty quickly, and in their rational mind, they know it was just a trick. But for one fleeting moment, there was magic.
About twelve years ago, I saw a flying saucer. My theology and reason tell me that extraterrestrial space ships do not exist, but for a few seconds one summer eve, I believed. I was driving home from church one Sunday evening. As I topped a hill, I saw a huge saucer-like object flying at what appeared to be only a few hundred feet above me. Narrow on the ends, high in the center, lots of lights and moving silently across the sky.
My mind raced. One part said, “I do not believe in these things,” another part was wondering where it would land and if I should run across the fields to find it. A flying saucer.
Then just a few seconds later, as it passed directly over me, I saw what it really was. The illusion was broken. But for a few seconds, I got to experience the thrill of seeing a real flying saucer. If I had passed out at that moment, no one would ever have convinced me it was not. Yet just as quickly, it passed.
When I put a single sponge ball in a lady’s hand and she opens her hand to see two balls, that is magic. Their expression, the wonder in their eyes tell me that for a brief moment, they have experienced real magic.
We know what we see on TV is not real. There are no sorcerors that can manipulate nature and do the impossible.
What I do is real magic. With the audience’s permission, I take them into a world where for just a moment, magic happens.
So please stop telling me I don’t do real magic. It just isn’t true.
Children love puppets and they love making things. So the question is “what are the best and easiest puppets for children to make?”
The best puppets for children to make will be those that do not use toxic adhesives or hot glue. Sewing should also be unnecessary or easily done in advance by an adult. Some of the ones my girls have enjoyed making are:
Spoon puppets
Paper bag puppets
Simple hand puppets
Sock puppets
Popsicle stick puppets
Simple Marionettes
Foam Head Puppets
At age ten, they are also able to do simple sewing by hand and machine, so they have options that may not be available to all parents and teachers to use with their children.
Eleanor made a simple hand puppet.She sewed the puppet on a machine.
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Spoon puppets
Wooden spoons make quick, fun stick puppets.
Decorate them with google eyes, felt or craft foam hair and noses. Even use markers to create a quick and easy puppet.
You can also use pom-poms or yarn for hair. Animal ears can be made from craft foam or felt. Pipe-cleaners can make nifty whiskers or mustaches and eye-brows.
Lunch bags make simple puppets. The fold makes the mouth. Just put your fingers inside the fold and open and close.
To make your mouth more pronounced, draw lips above and below the fold or a beak or other mouth features.
You can even cut out lips or cheeks from construction paper or craft foam and attach with glue or double-sided tape. Don’t forget to make a tonge for inside the mouth.
Legs or wings can also be made from construction paper or craft foam and attached.
Paper bag owl puppetPom-Pom Eyes
Simple hand puppets
My girls can use the sewing machine for simple stitching, so there were able to make the bodies for their puppets on the machine. You may want to sew the body for your child or have them glue the two sides together with Fabric Tac.
Any fabric can be used, but we used some inexpensive JoAnn Fabrics fleece.
To make a simple hand puppet, fold over a piece of fabric so the “good side” is inside, or place two pieces of felt together.
Pin the fabric so it stays in place.
Trace the pattern to the fabric.
Sew along the lines you have drawn, leaving the bottom open.
Cut out your body about 1/4″ outside the stitch line.
Popsicle stick puppets are similar to spoon puppets, but you will be cutting out a head from construction paper of craft foam and gluing to the top of the stick.
Eyes, Noses & Ears For Your Puppet
The easiest eyes for children to put on their puppets are googly-eyes. They attach easily with Elmer’s glue or double-sided tape.
Eyes can also be made from craft foam. Cut a circle of white (or your desired color) for the eye. Then add a smaller circle of a different color for a pupil.
Ping-Pong balls make big round eyes. They reall bring character to a sock puppet.
Place the pupils so they are slightly cross-eyes and that actually makes the puppet seem to be focused ahead.
Pom-Poms make fun eyes. Place a smaller Pom-Pom on a larger Pom-Pom to create your eye.
Noses can be made from Pom-Poms, twisted pipe-cleaner or felt.
Rabbit Sock Puppet Pom-Pom Nose, Felt Ears and Pipe-cleaner Whiskers Ping-Pong ball eyes and EVA foam teeth
Ears can be cut from felt or craft foam. Placing a smaller piece of contrasting color to a larger ear cut out makes an interesting ear.
Yarn and feather both make great hair for your puppet.
Double-sided tape is great for attaching eyes, noses, and other features when you don’t want to wait for glue to dry.
Simple Marionettes
Marionettes are fun to make and a great way to develop manual dexterity.
How to Make a Toilet Paper Roll Puppet
What You’ll Need
2 toilet paper tubes
Water paints
Brushes
Hole-punch
Plastic straws
Yarn
Craft foam
Pipe cleaners
Craft sticks
Double stick tape
Googly eyes or other eyes
White glue
Scissors
Instructions
Paint the toilet paper tubes or cover with colored paper
Cut one tube in half for the head
Cut the ears out of craft foam or cardboad
Glue two Popsicle sticks together to form a cross
Punch four holes on the bottom of the body for the legs
Thread two 6″ pieces of yarn through the leg holes, adding cut bendy straw pieces for the feet. Knot at each end
Alternatively, you can make feet from craft foam and glue to bottom of the legs. A double thickness will help give them some weight
On the opposite side of the tube, punch holes at both ends of the body; thread a long piece of yarn (approximately 24″) through the body and head. Tie it to the Popsicle stick-cross
Glue on a pipe cleaner for a tail
Attach eyes with double-stick tape or glue
You can also make different ears for different animals and even add a trunk to make an elephant.
Based on an idea from the October 2013 issue of Parents magazine.
Foam Head Puppets
Foam head puppets and arm and rod puppets like the Muppets can be fun to make. Both my girls started making them when they were 8 years old.
Do do this with children, you need to know what you are doing. Contact cement or hot glue is used to attach the foam and construct the head and body, so an adult will need to help and supervise this step.
It is really a 2 person job, with both the parent and the child doing parts according to their abilities. When finished, though, your child will have a wonderful memory and a great puppet.
Eleanor made a foam head lion puppet. She made the eyes from plastic spoons and teddy bear eyes. Fleece body, fur mane
Free Puppet Patterns to use, but please share a link to this page, not the patterns. Thank you.
My girls can use the sewing machine for simple stitching, so there were able to make the bodies for their puppets on the machine. You may want to sew the body for your child or have them glue the two sides together with Fabric Tac.
Any fabric can be used, but we used some inexpensive JoAnn Fabrics fleece.
To make a simple hand puppet, fold over a piece of fabric so the “good side” is inside, or place two pieces of felt together.
Pin the fabric so it stays in place.
Trace the pattern to the fabric.
Sew along the lines you have drawn, leaving the bottom open.
Cut out your body about 1/4″ outside the stitch line.
With a Sharpie, trace your pattern onto 1/2 ” foam. I have marked the edges that will not be glued with a dot.
Cut out the pattern with a sharp razor blade
Never use your good scissors to cut foam. Foam will dull scissors and razor blades very quickly.
Use a fresh razor blade. When cutting the foam, keep the blade perpendicular to the foam. You want a nice square edge.
When cutting, if you start right at the edge, the blade will sometimes tear the foam. Start from the inside and cut outward.
Apply contact cement to the outside edges of the pattern and in the darts
How To Apply Contact Cement To Your Puppet Pattern
Apply contact cement to the foam with a brush, or dab it on with a scrap of foam.
Do not apply to thick. A thin coat is best.
If you want a stronger bond, apply a second layer of cement after the first layer dries.
Apply the contact cement to BOTH edges that are to be joined.
Allow the cement to dry until it is just tacky. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process.
Pinch the edges together for a permanent bond.
Apply contact cement to both edges to be attached.
What is the best contact cement to use? See what the experts say:CLICK HERE
What is the best contact cement to use? See what the experts say: CLICK HERE
Pinch darts closed
Once the contact cement dries to tacky, pinch the edges together. Start with the darts.
Pinch the outside edges together to form the shape of the puppet head
Once all the darts are closed, attach the outside edges of the head together to get your final shape.
Pinch the darts closed, then attach the outside edges to finish your puppet skull.
Turn inside out
Turned inside out, the ridges on the darts disappear.
Turn the puppet head inside out and the darts will smooth out. This is optional, but sometimes when pinching the darts closed, you get little ridges. This will hide them.
Attach mouth plate to puppet head
Apply contact cement to the edges of your mouth plate and to where the mouth plate will attach to the head. Let dry until tacky.
Attach the mouth plate and you are ready to cover your head with fleece or latex.
Pear Head Puppet Covered With Antron Fleece
You can now put the inside of the mouth in, attach your facial features and hair, attach a neck and connect it all to a body.
Go to our VIDEO PAGE for instructions on each of these steps.
To learn how to make a professional quality puppet mouth plate go to: PUPPET MOUTH VIDEO
You can purchase the Pear Head Puppet Pattern and complete instructions by clicking the pic below.
Puppets and preschool age children seem to be made for each other. Look at the long-term success of Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and many other TV programs aimed at the pre-school audience.
They all use puppets. Even Barney added puppets.
Young children love animal puppets.
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Frame of Reference
The big thing to remember when working with 3-5 year olds is their lack of knowledge. They have a limited frame of reference.
Most humor assumes you know something and then we either make fun of it, which is satire, or we confuse it, using puns. Because of the limited frame of reference for this young age group, we can eliminate most satire.
They don’t get most satire. Clever or witty things will also go over their heads.
So how can you be funny for little ones?
Little kids love to flaunt what they do know. You can use this to your comic advantage.
Call things by the wrong name. Call a cat a dog or a blue ball orange. They will correct you and find it really funny that you don’t know your colors or what an animal is.
Mispronounce common words. Call a rabbit a rubbit (because I like to rub it), and they will gleefully correct you.
Perform a common task incorrectly. I often will try to blow into the wrong end of a balloon. The children will yell “turn it around.” I will then turn myself around and try to inflate it again. They will let me know that was the wrong way, so I’ll turn the opposite direction. Next try, I will turn it end for end, but a complete 360 degrees so it is still upside down. This all gets hilarious to little minds and the children’s response is entertaining to the adults.
Running gags work well with children. If you even accidentally drop a prop they will laugh. You can do it over and over and they will laugh every time. When you find something that makes them laugh, you can repeat it.
Get down to their level.
Children don’t get most jokes when they are 3 or 4 years old, but they love visual comedy. Snap yourself in the face while trying to inflate a balloon and they will laugh.
Drop your hat and “accidentally” kick it farther away from you time and again as you attempt to pick it up and they will laugh until you stop.
Remember, children have had limited exposure to things you find commonplace. Even well-known songs are new to them. You may think it will be funny if you sing a song wrong (works for Weird Al and Alan Sherman), but if the children don’t know the song, the humor will be lost.
Funny Animal Puppets
Little kids love animals, so an animal puppet is a great choice for this age group. The cuter the better.
Sometimes kids will want to show how smart they are by yelling out that the puppet is not real or that it is a puppet. I like to reply with, “Don’t tell him, he thinks he is real.”
Some children LOVE to tell you the puppet is not real. This is NOT the appropriate response.
Try to avoid hard-wood ventriloquist puppets. Those can be very scary to little ones (and my wife says they are creepy).
With any puppet, if you can make it act shy before it comes out, or ask the kids not to “scare the puppet,” you can help them relax around your little friend. This is especially more important the younger your audience.
Ways to use the puppet to create laughter
Use the puppet to perform a magic trick.
Use the puppet in a game of “you didn’t see it.” In this little “game,” the puppet will do something when you are not looking. The kids will yell for you to look, but you never see what is happening. This can be repeated over and over.
Have the puppet steal a hanky from your pocket or sneeze and wipe his nose on your jacket.
Have the puppet drop things or pronounce words wrong.
Have the puppet pronounce your name wrong. Then you can have a little back and forth with you correcting the puppet again and again.
Funny stuff to pre-schoolers. Children love it when the puppet gets the best of you.
Roscoe is always trying to trip me up.
The Fear Factor
I already hinted at this. Some children get scared by puppets. School-age kids seem to love things that are creepy, ugly or grotesque, but little ones don’t. Even something like a wolf puppet for Little Red Riding Hood can be very scary to a 3 year old.
Keep the puppet on the quiet side. You may have it whisper in your ear, and you repeat what it said. Or have it speak softly, calmly.
Loud noises and loud voices can be very scary to a 3 or 4-year-old. If something is loud and surprising, it can bring tears.
Your own personality should be gentle and calm. Win the children’s confidence. Let them feel safe.
When twisting balloon sculptures at festivals, I like to let my wife handle the little ones. She will kneel down and her voice is soft. I tend to be louder and more intimidating.
The same child that can laugh at a clown on television or a monster in a cartoon may start crying when meeting a clown in real life.
Not because the clown is scary, but because they are large, close, and unfamiliar. I believe that is why hardwood puppets are also scary. They are unfamiliar and often they features are exaggerated in a strange way.
How To Perform For Libraries, Preschools and Daycares
Don’t be over the top with noise or actions that may appear aggressive to a young mind.
Use actions more than words.
Use animal puppets that are cute and cuddly.
Always be kind to your puppet. Never hit or yell at your puppet.
To teach the Bible we need to communicate not just knowledge of what happened in the passage, but also help the children understand its meaning and then how that applies today, to them.
To get to the meaning- you’ll have read the passage and thought about where it fits into the Bible’s story as a whole, as well as its context in the chapters where it is, and become clear in your mind what God is teaching us.
And for application- you’ll have probably scribbled down some ideas –what should my response be?
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Great. But how to put it together? You stare at your blank sheet of paper or laptop screen and what do you write?
Well, here is a simple structure which I find works every time. It’s not rocket science but it does work. Access, Teach, Apply- that’s the structure. So get a clean sheet of paper, divide it into 3 columns and write or type those headings on it:
Access
Teach
Apply.
Now all we’ve got to do is fill in the paragraphs under them! So, what’s that first one –
Access
Well, tell you what, let’s come back to that one later. Let’s instead do the second one Teach. This is where you’ll spend the most time and is also the easiest one.
Teach
It’s got two parts – what happened and what it means. So- first what happened?
Write down how you’re going to describe to the children what happened. Write down how you’re going to say it – being careful to use language that they’ll understand and avoiding idiomatic phrases like ‘counting your chickens’ and ‘kick the bucket’.
Write down what visual ideas you’re going to use to make it creative and interactive. You also need to plan what you’re going to keep in and what to leave out.
Sometimes you’re given a Bible passage that includes far too much material for one session and even if you did somehow manage to do it all the children would switch off or leave.
That doesn’t mean that you can ignore bits that are difficult. What it does mean is that if you can still communicate the key points in a passage in a way which doesn’t conflict with the bits you’re not commenting on, or the rest of the Bible, then it’s reasonable to leave them out.
For example, if you’re teaching young children about David’s adultery with Bathsheba it’s reasonable to not comment on her having a bath on the roof and the sordid details that follow. You can still say that David saw Bathsheba and stole her from her husband without extra description.
Having said that, when we’re teaching tough passages- for example God’s judgment in the OT, or the crucifixion it is right to include some of the details- e.g. the crown of thorns, the nails and the spear even for pre-schoolers.
What we need to do is choose visual aids that are appropriate for that age-group.
TEACH the passage you’ve written down what happened
The big idea is to ask what the passage teaches us about God, Jesus, the work of the Holy Spirit, us, the church, the world around us. That might just be a sentence or two that you say yourself. Or if you’re able to, you might want to break out into small groups to explore the meaning.
APPLY
Well, again, that might be part of your talk or you might want to guide the other leaders to look at that in small groups. For that you’d need to provide them with an outline or activity.
If it’s part of your talk then remember that application is about what our response should be to what we’ve just heard. You might be saying something as simple as, ”And we need to listen to Jesus’ warning here…” or “And for us when we are finding it difficult to follow Jesus we should remember His promise that…” or “Isn’t Daniel a good example to us of what we should do when we have to choose between doing what pleases God or what pleases other people…”
Again look at the previous article called ‘Applying bible teaching’ for more help with this. So…that’s TEACH and APPLY.
ACCESS
Well, this is the one I want to spend most time on. And I recommend that it’s the first thing you do in your talk.
Now, it’s not compulsory but I’ve found over the years that it’s very very effective; it does take extra effort to plan. But the benefit in terms of the clarity of your teaching makes the effort well worthwhile.
So, what is ‘access’?
Access is the way into a talk. It links from what the children understand already to what you’re going to teach them from the Bible passage.
It’s a question, or a challenge or a game or a scenario which illustrates the meaning of your Bible passage, before you start teaching your Bible passage.
In our Vacation Bible School programs, we have two parts, before and after snack.
In the first part, we do songs, games, object lessons and skits. These are leading into the main mesage given after snack. The information here leads into the children’s sermon.
Let me explain with an example. The Sermon the Mount in Matthew 5-7 finishes with Jesus’ parable of the wise and foolish house builders in chapter 7 verses 24-29.
Great passage to teach children. Very visual. The meaning is in verses 24 and 26: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like…”
The meaning is about listening to Jesus and obeying him, especially so that we put our faith in him.
So, what could we do in the access section?
You could start your talk by showing them some instructions for building some flat-packed furniture, or a recipe for a cake or something. Talk about how we can follow the instructions and do what they say, or we can choose to ignore them and end up making a mess of it.
You could even show them a picture of a disastrous wardrobe or cake if you have the time. That illustrates the meaning of the passage before you start to teach the passage.
You can then start to teach: “Now, Jesus told us a little story to teach us to listen to what he says and obey him…otherwise what will happen will not be a horrible cake but our whole lives will be a disaster.”
Then you’re into ‘teach’ where you do the parable.
Access can be done in loads of different ways. What about Jesus’ healing the blind man in John 9– the meaning is about needing to see things- particularly Jesus- clearly.
So to access this how about starting with a powerpoint showing some photos of things disguised by blocking out most of the picture. And then take the blocks away to reveal the whole image.
Or for Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4 (the meaning being Jesus’ authority over all creation) you could show them some pictures of people with authority, such as police officers, teachers, etc, as a way in to help them understand Jesus’ authority over everything because He is King over everything.
Access takes lots of forms- it could be a quiz, a game or even as simple as asking a question about a situation the children might find themselves in.
or Daniel in the Lion’s Den (Daniel 6) here’s a question you can use. The meaning of the passage is about choosing to follow God no matter what, so your access question goes something like this: “If I asked you what would you do if you had to choose between doing the right thing and the wrong thing then I’m sure most of you would say you’d choose to do the right thing. But what if when you chose to do the right thing you got into trouble? And what if there were people pushing you to do the wrong thing. Well, in the Bible we read about a man called Daniel who had a choice like that to make. …”
Access. Teach. Apply. Having done things out of order we’ve now looked at those 3 sections in the structure of your talk:
Access, where you link from what the children do understand to what you’re going to teach them.
Teach, where you look at what happened and what it means
Apply, where you ask what our response should be. It’s simple but it works. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out our other articles on children’s ministry if you’ve not already seen them.
Need help in creating great lessons for your VBS, children’s church or Sunday School Class? Check out my book, “Secrets Of Creative Ministry: Teaching Truth With Engaging And Creative Lessons.” Available on Amazon.
