Decorating felt puppets is similar to decorating sock puppets

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A felt puppet is easy enough for a child to make

Felt puppets are easy projects that usually require a minimum of affordable materials. You can also make them without sewing or other special skills, so making felt puppets is a good project for children.

The Basic Steps of Making Felt Puppets

You begin with the puppet's body. Felt puppets typically don't have a working mouth, so all you have to do is cut two identical pieces of felt for the front and back. You can make a template yourself or use one you find online. (If you draw it yourself, make sure the template fits the hand of the puppet owner.)

Glue the front and back together with craft glue or white school glue. Then decorate the front side with facial features. You can use plastic googly eyes, pieces of felt, yarn, pom-poms, markers, foam, and similar craft items. Make sure to let all the glue dry before you allow the kids to play with their creations.

Where to Find Templates for Felt Puppets

If you want to use templates for your craft, here are three excellent sources:

• Bumblebee, ladybug, and dragonfly on second page
• Animal hand puppets, including bear, frog, cat, and owl
• Customizable person/basic puppet

You can also find a variety of templates for finger puppets. Making finger puppets is the same, except the size of the body pieces is significantly smaller. You can also insert popsicle sticks in these miniature puppets if you prefer.

Decorating Felt Puppets

For some cute decorating ideas, search online for pictures of felt puppets. You'll find all kinds of creatures and people. Or check out these pictures:

• Set of four felt puppets: prince, princess, dragon, unicorn
• Animal finger puppets: cat, rooster, bear, pig, and more

Come up with your own designs, encourage your children to decorate as they wish, or make your own version of one of the many puppets you find online. If you think it would be helpful, supply pictures during the decorating stage.

Kits for Making Felt Puppets

If you prefer the simplicity of having everything supplied for you, you can buy kits that come with materials to make several felt puppets. For some of these kits, you won't glue together the body pieces; instead the kids will practice lacing skills. Either way, the end product will be similar.

Activities for Felt Puppets

When you finish your craft, you can turn the kids loose to play, or you can use the puppets in planned activities. For instance, you could put on a puppet show or have the kids retell a favorite story with the felt puppets as characters.