About the projects
Bring fables to life! Craft your own puppets and act out stories from
around the world. Find easy projects, from shadow puppets to hand
puppets, and let your imagination soar! Use our ready-to-perform plays
or create your own stories!
The projects range in difficulty from VERY EASY to AVERAGE.
Browse down this page for descriptions and illustrations of the projects, then select a project and have some crafting fun! Or jump to the category index for a listing of all crafts.
Description ↓
Dive into shadow puppetry with ocean creatures! Craft your own
fish, seahorses, and octopuses with our
FREE printable shadow puppet patterns.
These easy-to-use patterns include a special jointed fish for added
movement and storytelling fun! Download now and light up the
imagination with a magical shadow puppet theater.
VERY EASY
Description ↓
An easy way to make hand puppets is to start with a Styrofoam® ball
for the puppet head. For the king hand puppet, make the face with felt cutouts,
add a felt crown, and drape fabric for clothing and a royal cape.
What could be easier?
EASY
Description ↓
Create quick and easy hand puppets based on Styrofoam® balls used
as the puppet head. You can use felt cutouts and/or pom-poms and
wiggly eyes to add a funny face to your clown puppet. Once you have
made the clown puppet, try your hand at making other puppet
characters by changing the cutouts and fabric drape!
EASY
Description ↓
Super easy hand puppets can be made with a paper bag, a few cutouts, and a
bit of drawing. In this project,
make puppets of opera singers, tenor and diva, that open and close their
mouths as you move the
paper bag flap with your hand.
EASY
Description ↓
Paper bag puppets are great fun and, with just a few cutouts and a
bit of drawing, you can make a puppet for just about any animal. In
this project, make cat and owl puppets that open and close their eyes
as you move the paper bag flap with your hand.
EASY
Description ↓
Make funny, talking hand puppets from simple paper bags, and
perform
Clever Gretel,
a play based on a Brothers Grimm folktale from Germany. But watch
out—Gretel is hungry!
EASY
Description ↓
Winter in Latvia is long and cold. What will the Farmer and his
family do to make it through? Use empty toilet paper tubes to make
these finger puppets, and find out what happens when the family
takes
Grandfather's Advice.
EASY
More puppet fun! This time using clip art to make paper bag puppets.
A quick, easy and fun activity for families and groups.
VERY EASY
Description ↓
Craft ocean-themed stick puppets and shadow puppets to stage your
own puppet show! Use free printable patterns for fish, shark,
seahorse, and octopus pupets as you bring
The Great Shark God,
a Fiji Islands fable, to life.
VERY EASY
Puppets come in
all shapes and styles, and these simple stick puppets make storytelling
easy! Use clip art, coloring book pages, or personal photos to create
characters for your own puppet show. Try making puppets inspired by
different cultures or favorite folk tales to bring even more creativity
to your performance.
VERY EASY
Description ↓
Pep up your puppets by giving them the ability to move! In the
puppet play,
The Defeat of Great Glooskap, you’ll see how a
baby can defeat a great Algonquin warrior.
EASY
Description ↓
Lions, tigers, and bears—oh my! It must be time to go to the circus.
Create acrobat, strongman, clown, and elephant finger puppets for
your very own circus. Then, invite your friends and family to the
show!
VERY EASY
Description ↓
Have you ever tried to
trick someone? The wily Fox has—and he knows just what to say
to keep Tiger from eating him in this play,
Officer
of Heaven, based on a Chinese folktale. This easy paper
cone finger puppet project is perfect for classroom crafting.
EASY
Description ↓
Try this "handy" little project to
put on a quick, fun and easy puppet show! Your fingers will become
the legs of little bird puppets. Then, put on the Australian
Aboriginal folktale
The
Medicine-man to find out how the rooster got his comb!
VERY EASY
Description ↓
Crafting is a breeze—cut,
fold, and glue your way to puppetry magic, animating these whimsical
elephants using three fingers. Explore a realm of imagination,
along with the lion, rabbit, and sheep puppets in the
Three-Finger Puppets
series. Unleash your creativity, and let the puppet show begin with
these delightful characters at the center stage!
EASY
Description ↓
Embark on a whimsical journey as you craft a fierce golden lion, a
kind rabbit, or a funny bighorn sheep. These paper animal puppets
become the stars of your stories, be they friends or foes in your
imaginative tales. Plus, discover the included Aesop fable,
The Lion and the Rabbit, for added storytelling
delight.
EASY
Description ↓
Time travel to the land of
dinosaurs with these easy-to-make Triceratops finger puppets! With
just three fingers (two for stomping legs and one for a head-bobbing
nod), you can bring these prehistoric giants to life. Create your
own puppet saga—imagine escaping erupting volcanoes, battling
rivals, or munching on prehistoric plants with your new dino
friends!
EASY
Description ↓
What did one mitt say to the
other? That’s up to you with this easily customized puppet. Facial
features and your own custom cutouts transform a basic mitt shape
into funny characters, adorable animals, monsters, and anything else
you can imagine. Start with Aunt Annie's cat, rabbit and bear
patterns then try a design of your own!
VERY EASY
Description ↓
Tiny tailors and
seamstresses will love creating these easily sewn fabric mitt
puppets. Cut your cloth using Aunt Annie’s patterns for cat and
rabbit puppets, then use fabric markers, embroidery and felt cutouts
to customize your playtime pals. Or, simply print the included
full-color bear puppet patterns directly on fabric for quick and easy
puppet-making!
EASY
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