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!
These lollipop stick pals are our favorite kind of craft, each child creates their own designs and at the end you have a variety of different ideas – each one awesome and unique! The kids loved making these and were using them to put on puppet shows from under the table before finally deciding to use them as homemade bookmarks. This little craft is great for groups, simply put out a variety of materials for the children to use!
Here’s what we used
Wide lollipop stick
Paint or felt tip pens
Googly eyes
Coloured paper
Scissors
Glue
Optional decoration bits and pieces
How we made our lollipop stick pals
Using pens or paint colour in the lollipop stick and leave it to dry.
Take the pipe cleaner and shape the ends as desired to make the hands before twisting it on to the lollipop stick.
To make the hands for this bookmark we bent three bumps into the end of the pipe cleaner then twisted the length of the pipe cleaner between one of the bumps to secure before shaping with our hands. We then repeated this on the other side.
Add some fun facial features to the top of the lollipop stick bookmark
And finish off by adding any extra customisations such as hats, clothes or any other decorations!
We’d love to see how your little one’s lollipop stick pal turns out. Did you know you can share them with us on Pinterest or Facebook?
*please note that this post may contain amazon affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase from the links provided i may make a small commission. This comes at no extra cost to you and helps me keep this blog running.
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!
*please note this post may contain amazon affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase via any of the links provided i may make a commission. This comes at no extra cost to you and helps me keep this site up and running
I’m back again with another wooden spoon puppet craft that we made to go with our cardboard puppet theatre! Today’s puppet is this awesome wooden spoon pirate captain puppet that my son dreamed up and I helped him make. We have had so much fun on this project and I think this might be one of my favourite puppets that we have made so far. We’ve made up several different stories around him and my little lad is already coming up with loads of ideas for accessories that we can make to go with him too!
Self adhesive felt(we prefer to use self adhesive rather than felt and felt glue as it means that my son can do the sticking rather than just watch me doing it all. We just only peel off the bits we want to stick).
Scissors
Glue gun
How to make our wooden spoon pirate captain puppet
Start off by taking your lollipop stick and gluing it centrally across the neck of your wooden spoon, this will make the pirate’s arm. Then you’ll need to give your pirate a face. We started off by cutting out and sticking down a beard, we then added the hat on top before sticking on two grumpy eyes and a mouth.
To make the t-shirt, place your captain on to the back of your felt and draw your shirt shape around it on to the paper backing before cutting it out. Remember your shirt will need to be wider than your puppet frame in all places.
To save felt you could just stick one shirt piece to the front. However, we’re planning on using our puppets long term so wanted to make them sturdy as possible. We drew around our shirt shape and cut out a second identical piece to make the back. If you decide to cut out a back piece too remember to draw around the shirt with both felt sides facing outwards as they will be on the spoon, otherwise your pieces might not match up!
To attach your pirate shirt, peel off the backing paper and attach one to the front of your spoon and one to the back. Pinch the two sides together to meet and secure in the middle. Repeat the same process to make a little pair of trousers.
Finish off your pirate by adding some decoration. We cut out some yellow felt strips for the sleeves and the bottom of his shirt and we also added some yellow buttons. Finally we gave our pirate a sword by cutting out a white blade with a black hilt and sticking them together on one of our lollipop stick hands
*please note this post may contain amazon affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase via any of the links provided i may make a commission. This comes at no extra cost to you and helps me keep this site up and running*
Here I am again with another puppet craft that we made to use with our cardboard puppet theatre! I absolutely love this one. My son decided he wanted to make this after reading the night pirates – a story about a little boy and a gang of rough, tough girl pirates. Both my son and I both found this one the most fun to make just because it was a bit different with plaiting the hair and adding some fun stripy decoration. Our cute wooden spoon girl pirate puppet makes the perfect addition to the crew of our pirate captain puppet!
Self adhesive felt(Felt and flet glue also works but we prefer to use self adhesive felt as it means my son can do the sticking rather than just watching me glue it – we just remove the backing paper from the parts we want to stick).
First take your lollipop stick and glue it centrally across the top of your wooden spoon neck to make the arms. Next, give your pirate some hair. To make our hair we glued wool scraps around the curve of the spoon head, then plaited each side before fastening with a coloured wool scrap.
Next give your puppet two eyes and a mouth. Cut out a bandanna and add some stripes to it before sticking it down on the top of your puppet’s head. Once you have done that, place your puppet on the back of your felt and draw her shirt shape around her before cutting it out. Remember, your shirt will need to be wider in all places than your puppet.
To save felt you could just stick one shirt piece to the front of your puppet. However we’re planning on using our puppets long term so wanted to make them sturdy as possible. We drew around our shirt shape and cut out a second identical piece to make the back. If you decide to cut out a back piece too remember to draw around the dress with both felt sides facing outwards as they will be on the spoon, otherwise your pieces might not match up!
Once you’ve finished cutting out your pirate shirt, add some stripes to your front one so it matches your pirate bandanna. To attach your shirt to your puppet lightly stick one to the front of your wooden spoon handle and one to the back of it. Then, pinch the two together so that they meet and secure in the middle.
Repeat the same process to give your tough girl pirate some black pirate trousers. Then, cut out a white sword blade and a black hilt and stick them down in place together on one of your lollipop stick hands. You’ll notice my little lad also made some snips to the pirate’s trousers too – apparently it makes them more pirate-y!
