Are your kindergarteners fascinated with puppets? If so, you may want to think about making each one of them a pop-up puppet. Based on my experience, kids adore them and they are relatively easy to create. Here’s how to do it:
Supplies Needed
In order to complete this project, you will need a 12 inch cardboard cone, a wooden dowel (5/8 inch by 14 inches), a 2 inch wooden bead, a 1 inch wooden bead and a package of doll face rub-on transfers. You’ll also need a bag of doll hair, a piece of flesh colored felt and a 6 inch doll’s dress. One place that sells 6 inch doll dresses is Vee’s Victorian. The rest of the supplies should be readily available for purchase through most craft stores. In addition, it is also necessary to have access to paint brushes, acrylic paints, acrylic finishing spray, a hot glue gun and a bag of glue sticks.
Prepare the Materials
Begin by painting the 2 inch bead a flesh color. You’ll also want to paint the 1 inch bead and the wooden dowel any color that you desire. Feel free to use more than one coat of paint. Personally, I like to use two to three layers of paint because it tends to create a deeper, longer lasting finish. I should also mention that the 2 inch bead is going to be the puppet’s head. The 1 inch bead and the wooden dowel are going to serve as the puppeteer’s control stick.
Once the paint has dried, grab the rub-on transfers. Then use them to create a human face onto the large wooden bead. Afterward, liberally coat all of the puppet’s painted, wooden parts with the acrylic finishing spray. It will help to give them a nice sheen and seal in the puppet’s facial features. You’ll also want to glue some hair to the top of the puppet’s head. While the finishing coat and glue is drying, turn your attention towards the cardboard cone.
Proceed by cutting the bottom tip off of the cone. The resulting hole should be just big enough to accommodate the width of the wooden dowel. Next, set the cone onto your countertop so that the newly created hole is facing up towards the ceiling. Then decorate the cone as desired. Keep in mind though that the puppet’s head will pop up out of the cone’s widest opening. Therefore, you’ll want to orientate the cone’s design accordingly.
Next, grab a piece of felt and cut out a pair of hands for your puppet. Then attach one hand to each dress sleeve with glue. When doing so, you’ll also want to make sure that you seal the cuff closed.
Assemble the Materials
Once that’s done, glue the 1 inch bead to the base of the wooden dowel. Then thread the dowel through the cone’s tip. Continue by gluing the 2 inch bead to the other end of the dowel. Keep going by pulling the doll’s dress over top of the puppet’s head. Then glue the dress’s collar to the base of the puppet’s head.
Afterward, hold the cone with one hand and pull down on the wooden dowel with the other. Allow the base of the doll’s dress to sink into the cone. Then glue the entire base hem of the doll’s dress to the wide mouth section of the cone. That way, the puppet’s dress and the cone become one piece. Once that’s done, your pop-up puppet will be ready for use.
To use the pop-up puppet, grab onto the 1 inch bead located at the base of the wooden dowel. When you pull down on the handle, the puppet will disappear inside the cone’s cavity. When you push up on the handle, the puppet will pop out of the cone. That’s all that there is to it.
Source: Personal Experience
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