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 ↓
Make playful animal puppets from lunch bags using printable
patterns and simple art supplies. These designs pair perfectly with
storytelling and imaginative plays—perhaps even a performance of
The Owl and the Pussycat
to bring the characters to life.
EASY
Description ↓
Make hand puppets from paper bags and act out
Clever Gretel,
a folk play from Germany. Includes printable designs for each
character and invites kids to explore global tales through creative
play.
EASY
Description ↓
Step into a Latvian folktale and bring the story to life! Craft
finger puppets from empty toilet paper tubes using the included
printable patterns for
Grandfather's Advice. Then, act out the play to
discover how a clever family faces a long, cold winter.
EASY
Description ↓
Inspired by dragons from legends around the world, this craft
transforms an empty cardboard tube into a fiery creature ready for
puppet play. Use the printable patterns to assemble your dragon,
then pair it with other Toilet Paper Tube Puppets
to stage your own magical tales.
EASY
Design and make your own paper bag puppets with clip art or
photos. It’s a fun way to add new characters to your puppet
collection and bring more stories to life.
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 ↓
Explore world folktales through hands-on puppet making. Craft
stick puppets with moving parts and perform the included play,
The Defeat of Great Glooskap, based on an
Algonquin legend.
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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