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.
Table of Contents
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.
Paper bag puppets
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.
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.
- Turn body right side out.
- Decorate with eyes, nose, whiskers, etc.
- Put on a play.
Free Hand Puppet Patterns HERE
Sock puppets
Popsicle stick puppets
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.
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.
