Kid Territory: Crafts: Zoo Puppets
Diagram
Monkey puppet
Elephant puppet
Here's an easy way to make a zooful of animal puppets. Set up a stage and put on your own puppet show! You can write show scripts that tell all kinds of stories–just write down what each puppet should say. You might have a conservation theme, or tell a funny story about an animal that meets other animals on a journey. Use your imagination and have fun!
What you need
• 1 empty gelatin box (or box that size) for each puppet
• An old, but clean, sock
• Scissors
• Glue
• Fabric scraps, construction paper, yarn, sequins, felt, pipe cleaners, etc.
• Tape
What you do
1. Tape the open end of the gelatin box closed. Lay the box flat, then start cutting the top across the middle. Cut all the way across the middle and down each of the sides, but don't cut the bottom that was lying on the table (look at the diagram). Now fold the box in half along the middle of the uncut side. If you put your thumb and fingers in the open parts, you can move it like a mouth. This is the puppet's mouth.
2. Take the sock and cut off the toe, about two inches from the end. Slip the sock over the box, so it creates a head and neck for the puppet, with a moving mouth. Glue the edges of the sock onto the box to keep it together.
3. Now you can use the fabric scraps and other materials to decorate the box and the sock to create any animal you choose. Felt teeth can be glued inside the mouth (square ones for herbivores or pointy ones for carnivores), and a pink oval (or a blue-black one if you're making a giraffe!) can be glued inside to make a tongue. You could make antlers or horns with pipe cleaners, a mane with yarn, spots or stripes, and different sizes and shapes of ears and eyes. You could make antelope or deer, big or small cats, foxes, pigs, giraffes, hippos...you name it!
4. To bring your puppet to life, put your arm up into the sock and your fingers into the box halves.
