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How to Build a Stage Box Out of Wood

Build a sturdy wooden box to serve as the stage for puppet shows. You can decorate or embellish the box in any way you want, but there is a basic structure for the stage box that will be ideal for anyone who likes to entertain others with marionettes or sock puppets. The stage box features a door that opens so you can enter and exit, and a window and shelf that act as the stage.

Things You'll Need

Plywood
Measuring tape
Pencil
Table saw
Woodworking glue
Hammer
Nails
Hinges
Wood screws
Power drill
Fabric
Tacks
String
Needle
Thread

Instructions

- 1
  Measure and mark four pieces of plywood to 4 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Cut the pieces to the dimensions with a table saw.
- 2
  Measure and mark a 3-foot-wide, 2 1/2-feet-high window in one of the sides, right above the middle of the side as it sits vertically. Cut out the window.
- 3
  Arrange the three sides into the three sides of the box, minus the side with the window. Run lines of woodworking glue along the corners where they meet and wait 12 hours for it to dry. Nail the corners together near the corners of the box, with five more evenly spaced between them along each corner.
- 4
  Attach one side of a set of three hinges to the edges of the opening of the box where the fourth side will go. Place two hinges 3 inches from the top and bottom and one in the middle. Screw them down through the holes in the sides of the hinges with wood screws and a power drill.
- 5
  Line up the edge of the side with the window with the edge of the opening in the box and screw the other side of the hinges into it. Now you have a door on the front of the box that opens and closes.
- 6
  Measure and cut a 3-foot-long, 7-inch-wide board and nail the horizontal edge of it to the bottom of the window to create a shelf. This is the shelf on which the the puppet shows will take place.
- 7
  Hang two pieces of fabric along the inside of the top edge of the window with tacks, so they meet in the middle. Sew the ends of a string to the middles of either side of the fabric where they meet in the middle of the window so you can pull them back when the shows start.

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