Some easy and very inexpensive stick puppets

Okay Guys,

Here are some videos and pictures of some very creative, easy, and inexpensive puppets that anyone can make.

Let me start off with some videos that show the movable parts and then I'll give you the easy instructions.

The s'mores puppet is really easy to make. We cut two pieces of cardboard for the top and bottom. Then a tube was sewn from duck cloth, stuffed with fiberfill, and sandwiched between the cardboard. A brown piece of felt was cut and fringed for the bangs.  I used a hairbow for the mouth that is glued in place on the back side only. Then I took fishing line and sewed through the front "lip" and a plastic ring is knotted at  the bottom. A small hole is poked through the cardboard so that the ring and fishing line mouth mechanism can work from the bottom.

The cotton candy puppet was made for VBS this year. We used clip art that was traced onto foam board. Then fiberfill was hot glued to the front and spray painted with glow in the dark spray paint. Google eyes were glued to the front and 2 holes were poked for the mouth for the hairbow. Then fishing line and the plastic ring were used to make the movement. This was then duct taped to a paint stick stirrer from Lowe's for the handle.

This is our ghost  that was one of our first stick puppets we ever made. He was cut out of the blue insulation board. We covered him with an old nightgown. Then his mouth was glued just like the other puppets and he was duct taped to a paint stirrer from Lowe's.

We used the cement glue to glue half of the hairbow for his mouth.

Here's an up close picture of the plastic ring and fishing line

Another thing that works well for us is drilling a hole in the bottom of the paint stick and attaching a tie wrap so that we can hang our props. We do this for all of our props and it makes for easier organization and storage.

Here are some random pictures of other stick puppets we have made. We have 8 different snowflakes that sang in our Christmas production a few years ago. We made boy and girl ones.

Here's a Christmas stocking. He's made with insulation blue board and poster board that is attached with spray adhesive. Then we trimmed him with a little piece of fur. We have even made the old timey looking Christmas lights that sing.

We have letters that sing and spell words as well. This one is used in the Veggie Tales song "Stand Up" and we have each letter in "Stand Up" that sings the chorus. He's also made with poster board attached to the insulation board.

If you look close you'll also see that we have a small sleeve made from duct tape on the stick that the fishing line is threaded through. This keeps the strings from tangling.

Here's a little better picture for you.

Okay, I hope you are getting some ideas for your own puppet ministry. Get your creative minds to work and start searching for your clip art.  Your overhead projector can be your new friend. And our Lowe's in Kingsport has been awesome to donate paint sticks to us.  Have fun!

Looking to further the Kingdom,

Tammy