This adorable paper cup giraffe puppet is not only fun and easy to make but can also provide hours of fun imaginative play too. we made ours using card scraps and my daughter just loves him!
Here’s what we used
Coloured card (yellow, orange and black)
Coloured paper (orange)
String
2 Paper cups
Googly eyes
Scissors
Glue
How to make our paper cup giraffe puppet
Take your yellow card and cut out two large outer ears and then two smaller inner ears from the orange. Glue the pieces together to make the ears and then fold a small tab at the bottom of each ear and glue it in place inside the paper cup. next cut out two long giraffe horns and glue them in place between the ears as above.
Add two Googly eyes to the top of the head paper cup and two round black nostrils to the base. Then cut out several orange paper splotches and glue them all over both cups of the giraffe.
Next you’ll need to make five paper springs (4 legs and 1 neck). To make a spring take two equal length strips and glue them together at a right angle. Take turns folding the strips one over the other and then secure the end with glue.
Next cut out four round card circles for the feet and glue one to the end of each spring leg.
Attach the head and body together using a spring as above and then glue the 4 legs in place on the underside of the body cup.
To finish your paper cup giraffe puppet cut a fair length of string and glue one end just inside the rim of the head cup and the other inside the body. Once dry your adorable giraffe is finished and ready to dance!
How cute is this tp roll ballerina puppet craft? We really enjoyed making these and the kids had so much fun twirling them around to music and making their own ballet shows!
Here’s what we used
Cardboard tp roll
Coloured card and paper
Markers
Scissors
Glue
Tape
String
How to make our tp roll ballerina puppet craft
Take a skin tone coloured piece of paper and cut out a strip that’s long enough to wrap around the paper roll and approximately 1/3rd the height of it. Glue the strip around the top of the paper roll to make the princess’ head.
Cut out a second strip of colored paper to cover the bottom 2/3rds of the roll and glue it on to the paper roll to make the princess’ dress.
Now cut out a strip of paper and style it as desired to make the hair. We used a long triangular shape to make this ballerina’s fringe.
Use your markers to add a face to your tp roll ballerina.
Cut out a strip of coloured paper and make several snips into the bottom of the strip before curling the ends to make the tutu. Glue the tutu around the toilet roll.
Next cut out four equal strips of paper and fold them using a fan fold (one way and then the other) to make the arms and legs. Glue them into place on the toilet roll.
Cut out two hands and two feet and glue them onto the end of the arms/legs.
Optionally glue the ballerinas hands together above their head and then take a good length of string and attach either end to one of their hands. once dry your ballerina is ready to be played with!
We just love a fun handmade toy craft! These cute paper cup horse puppets are not only fun to make put provide plenty of fun play too! There’s so much you can do with them – Why not build some pony jumps out of toys or books for your horses to jump, or you could use some Duplo to build some stables.
You will need
Paper cups
Paint and paintbrush (optional)
Coloured paper
Googly eyes
Scissors
Glue
Wool scraps
String (optional)
How to make our paper cup horse puppets
Take two paper cups and cover them in your chosen coloured paint before popping them aside to dry.
Once dry take the first paper cup to make the horses head. Glue two ears down just inside the rim of the cup, add two Googly eyes and two nostrils. Finish the head by trimming and gluing on some wool scraps to make the mane.
Glue the two paper cups together with both of the openings facing backwards. Take some more wool scraps and glue them onto the back of the second paper cup to make the tail.
Next it’s time to make the legs. Cut out two equal strips of paper and glue them together at a right angle. Take turns folding one strip over to make a spring, once you reach the end use a little glue to secure the spring in place. Cut out a circle for the hoof and glue it to one end of the spring, glue the other end of the spring onto the horse to make a leg. Repeat this process for the other three legs.
To add some string to your horse puppets simple pierce a small hole in the body of the horse just behind where the two cups join. Pierce a second hole in the head cup slightly away from the rim (we placed ours under the mane so that it was hidden). Take your length of string and tie a large knot into it so that it will not pull through the hole. Thread the loose end through the body cup and then through the head cup. Once completely dry Your horse puppet is finished and ready to play with!
How roarsome is our toilet roll chinese dragon puppet craft?
This week at school my son has been learning all about Chinese new year, the story of the zodiac and about various different traditions. Today for his assignment he was asked to make his own model Chinese dragon with a grown up! As you can imagine we couldn’t wait to get started on our next crafty project and this dragon was soo much fun to make together. I helped little man with the glue gun and he did everything else by himself!
Here’s what we used
We used a variety of materials for our dragon but you can substitute for anything you like!
Toilet rolls
Red card
Pom poms
Googly eyes
Buttons
Pipe cleaners
Straws
Scissors
Glue gun
Tissue paper
Ribbon
How to make our Chinese dragon puppet craft
Start by taking your toilet rolls and adding some color to them. For ours we measured out long strips of paper and glued them around the toilet rolls. You may prefer to paint yours!
Now to make the dragons face. Glue an eye onto two poms poms and then glue the pom poms onto one end of the toilet roll. Take two buttons and glue them on the opposite end to make the nostrils.
Tear some strips of coloured tissue paper and glue it around the inside of the tube end closest to the nostrils. Twirl pipe cleaners around a pencil or your finger to make the smoke and glue one onto each nostril.
Take a length of ribbon and thread it through each toilet roll. Glue each one about a cm apart onto the ribbon. Finish by taking the straws and making several 1cm snips into one end of each. Use this end to attach the straws to the dragon and you are finished! Doesn’t it look fab? It’s so much fun to play with too!
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A few weeks back, my son asked me if we could buy a puppet theatre to play with. I have to say I was shocked at the prices of some of the puppets that we looked at! I know too well what my son is like, he’ll desperately want something and when he finally gets it he’ll play with it for a couple of days before it disappears to the back of the cupboard for goodness knows how long. It was then that I had the idea that maybe we could make our own DIY cardboard puppet theatre. That way we wouldn’t just spend time together playing with it but also building it too.
My little guy loved the idea and said that he wanted to make a red puppet show. So, when our big craft order arrived we instantly got to work on the box. It’s been so lovely spending so much time together over the last few days. I wasn’t sure how he was going to get on with no school but having him home has been such a pleasure. The best thing about this project is that it’s one we can keep adding to over time by adding new puppets to our collection!
To start with, take your cardboard box and open the ends. Cut off the Back of the box to give you three equal sections as you can see above. Our box was a little bit small so rather than cutting the ends off we glued them together at the corners to make it taller.
Draw your window onto your puppet theatre before cutting it out. Then, cut the top of your theatre into a slight arch.
*just an after thought. If you want to easily add working curtains make sure the sides pieces are a couple of cm higher than the top of your window. We didn’t do this and had to fiddle with our curtains to get them to hang properly.
Now for the fun part! Cover your puppet theatre in your chosen paint. You may want to paint the front and back, we only did the front as we’re running low on red paint!
To hang the curtains you’ll need to make a hole at the top of each of your two sides. They’ll need to be 2-3cm higher than your window. Thread a length of string through one hole, across the middle and out the other hole. Pull the string tightly before knotting the ends securely on the outside of your theatre. My son cut up an old pillowcase to make his curtains and folded them over his string before securing the loose end in place with double sided tape (I had originally planned on tidying the curtains up and sewing them together for him. To be honest though, his double sided tape has held up perfectly).
*If like ours, your curtains a little bit low use some tape or glue in the centre to lift them slightly.
To make your changeable scenery, cut out some different floors (such as grass and sea). Attach magnets to each side. You’ll also need to line up two magnets just beneath your window so you can switch your scenery.
To finish add some decoration to the front of your show. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible so we just glued on some white paper stripes and some yellow stars. once dry you puppet theatre is finished! Doesn’t it look fab? My son is so pleased with his!
