Kids enjoy creating their own puppets and setting up their own plays. There are so many creative ways of making your own paper finger puppets in just a little time. Paper finger puppets craft is great as an indoor activity when the weather is not so great for playing outside. Finger puppets can be made in several ways such as origami, round to fit the finger, cone shaped, or just plain 2D figures with holes for the fingers. In this case, the puppeteer's fingers will act as legs for the puppet. Puppets are excellent for improving kids' creativity and social skills by allowing them to express their imagination and draw their own characters that allow them to express their feelings. This DIY is also great for improving your kids' social and communication skills.
1 Pop-up Puppets
Supplies Needed
- Disposable cup
- Tissue paper
- A piece of fabric or, in a pinch, heavy duty paper towel
- Cardboard or cardstock
- A straw or small dowel
- Glue
- Scissors
- Crayons or markers
- A rubber band
- Decorative tape or construction paper
- A pipe cleaner
Directions
- Cut out or tear your tissue paper and glue it to the cup. Neatly trim any bits that hang over the edges.
- Carefully poke a small hole at the bottom of your cup with scissors.
- Now glue two pieces of the brown cardboard together, plain side out, and draw a face on one side and the back of the head on the other.
- Cut the face out and cut a small slit in one end of the straw. Stick the puppet head into it. You can use glue or tape to secure.
- Cut your fabric into a semi-circle shape. Make sure that it's big enough to fit over the top of the cup.
- Form a cone and glue the straight edges together.
- Use a rubber band to attach the fabric to the top of your cup.
- Cover the rubber band with decorative tape or construction paper.
- Push the straw through the fabric cone and cup and out the hole at the top of the fabric.
- Put glue on the straw just under the head and stick the fabric to it.
- Tightly wrap a pipe cleaner just under the head to both hold it in place and to create arms.
- Test by pulling the straw up and down.
- Bingo! Your pop-up puppet is ready to dazzle.
2 Paper Puppet
Materials
- Plain white paper
- Craft scissors
- Glue stick
- Markers
Let's Get Started
Cut about 8-10 centimeters square piece of paper and fold one side in. Run the glue stick over the opposite side then fold over the other and press to form a tube. Fold the top of the tube down to form the head. Fold the bottom corners of the head inside. This is where the fun begins! If you want to make an animal puppet, fold the top corners of the head down to the front side of the puppet. For a human puppet, fold the top corners to the backside of the puppet. If you're making a bunny, cut out a couple of ears from another piece of paper and glue them to the back of the head. Use your markers to decorate the puppet for the animals with ears, eyes, whiskers, nose, paws, mouth and tail; for humans with hair, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet and buttons. These are just a few ideas; play around with decorating as much as you like and take control of how you want your new toys to look!
What you will need:
- Paper cup
- Plastic drinking straw
- Card
- Scissors
- Pencils
- Felt tip pen
- Tape
- Paint and paintbrush
What to do:
- Draw a small character onto the card using the pencils to color and the felt tip pen to outline.
- Cut out the character.
- Tape the character to the end of the drinking straw.
- Make a hole in the base of the cup big enough for the straw to fit through using scissors.
- Decorate the outside of the paper cup with paint to match the character.
- When the paint is dry, push the long end of the straw through the hole in the base of the cup so that the character is hiding in the cup and the long end of the straw is poking out of the bottom of the cup.
- To surprise people with your puppet character, push the straw up and the character will pop out of the cup.
You can disguise the cup as a boat and make a sailor or a rabbit in a hat. Create a puppet show for your parents and family to watch!