Puppets, Puppets, and More Puppets!

Over the years, I've been collecting puppets for the girls- hand and finger puppets. One of their very first puppets was a birds nest that had little baby birds sticking out of the top. I've found the best puppets at flea markets for pennies! A couple of my favorites include a bright colored dragon and a little girl that looks like one of the Muppet's. I also enjoyed having my students and girls create their own puppets. My students would use balloons and papermache to create the head. If kids don't mind getting their hands dirty, they love this! I have had a couple of students who didn't want to put their hands in the papermache mush!! (This great idea for making puppets came from my teaching partner!) Anyways, the students would make the puppets first and then work in a group and write a puppet show together. The challenge was to see how they would fit all of their characters into the story! I've also had older students create puppet shows about topics of study (for ex: endangered species) to share with younger students.
I told my youngest daughter what I'm blogging about and she is all gung-ho about creating a puppet theatre today! "We'll just tape cardboard together and paint it and cut out a hole, Mommy! Let's do it now!" It is 7:00am, so I did tell her she would have to wait until after breakfast!! I've been tempted to invest money into a fancy puppet theatre for them, but decided that they have more fun creating their own. Also, it is very easy to fold up and store and it's FREE! Below are some ideas for making puppets with your little ones and a few links to websites! Have fun and Mommies- don't forget to create your own puppet!!

PaperPlate Puppets: very easy to make with very little materials needed!

Materials: Lg. or sm. paper plates, markers or crayons, lg. craft stick, other fun materials such as googly eyes, yarn, feathers (optional), glue

Directions: Have child create face on front of paper plate and glue on fun materials if handy, attach to stick

Lunch Bag Puppets: Same materials as above- minus the craft stick. They put their hand into the puppet to make it talk!

Directions: Be sure they decorate the right side of the bag where it is folded for the face. Other than that, they can be creative about what they want to add. Scraps of material for clothes and buttons would be fun! My girls like creating animal puppets with lunch bags.

PaperMache Puppets: Go to links for details instructions on how to create this fun puppet. I haven't tried this with my little ones yet, but my oldest is probably about the right age for this one now!


Well, I guess I better get the craft materials out! Looks like we are going to have fun today playing with puppets!!



http://www.dltk-kids.com/type/papermache.htm
http://www.sunniebunniezz.com/index.html
http://www.bobbrownpuppets.com/paperplates1.html