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How to Make Large Hand Puppets

Hand puppets are wonderful toys which can engross youngsters of all ages for hours and hours on end. Older kids can entertain the little ones with puppet shows, and they can be surprisingly creative about it. Store-bought hand puppets can be quite costly, but there's an easy solution for that.
You and your kids can make these fun hand puppets using materials that you probably already have around the house. It's a great rainy day project, and the children will enjoy making the craft almost as much as they'll love playing with the puppets that they create themselves. These hand puppets can be as large or small as desired, depending upon the size of the bag, and as plain or fancy as the kids wish to make them.

Things You'll Need

Paper bags
Construction paper
Scissors
Wiggle eyes (optional)
Narrow curling ribbon
White glue
Crayons, markers
Glitter, sequins, beads, raw pasta, fabric scraps, other small decorating items

Instructions

- 1
  Spread several layers of old newspapers on your working surface to protect it from glue and messy decorating materials. Lay a paper bag flat on the surface with the bag's opening end closest to you, and with the folded bottom section facing upward. The bottom will become the hand puppet's face.
- 2
  Draw lips, eyes, eyebrows and a funny nose on construction paper and cut them out. Wiggle eyes are great for this, if you have some. Use the side of a scissor blade to curl a length of ribbon. Cut it into 1/2 inch pieces for eyelashes.
- 3
  Glue all of the facial features onto the puppet. Let the glue dry completely before continuing.
- 4
  Cut 1/4- to 1/2-inch wide construction paper strips for hair. You can curl these by wrapping them around a pencil or marker. Make some curled ribbon hair locks, too, and glue all the hair to the puppet. Let it dry thoroughly.
- 5
  Have your child color clothes on the puppet with crayons or markers. Offer glitter, sequins, beads, raw pasta or other small decorating items for embellishments on the clothing. Let all the glue dry.
- 6
  Slip the finished hand puppet on and give a demonstration on how to make it talk, sing and dance. Make up a puppet show with the kids, and encourage them to write their own scripts. Film the show with your digital camera and make DVDs of it to give as gifts for friends and relatives of the children.

Childrens Toys