DIY: Upcycled Puppets (Ideal for Storytelling)

Looking for a fun frugal puppet? How about these DIY rod puppets, perfect for imaginative play & storytelling.

We recently went to a puppet making workshop & discovered how to make these fab puppets. This dragon was made entirely from recycled materials, was simple to put together, & offers so many play opportunities & discoveries.

Materials we used to create the dragon puppet:
Recycled packing paper
Recycled green wrapping paper
Wooden garden sticks
Strong glue (UHU) & a glue stick
Scraps of green & red card
Recycled foam disks for eyes
Green String
Masking tape
Screwdriver

Method:
1) We made the body of our dragon puppet in the same way as our dragonfly puppets, scrunching the packing paper into a body shape & securing with masking tape.

2) For the head we scrunched the paper into a small oblong shape, sealed with masking tape, & then covered both the head & body with green tissue paper, sealing with a glue stick.

3) Using a screwdriver we made holes in the paper body & head, added strong glue & attached the rods (sticks) to the top of the puppet. (It looks a little strange adding the rods to the top of the puppet, but they give the puppet a range of expressive movements, & help the child to control & manipulate the puppet.)

 4) To join the head & body together we used green string (any strong string/ribbon can be used). Again using the screwdriver we made a hole in the puppet's body & side of the head, added strong glue to the hole & inserted the string.

5) We made wings & ears using scraps of green card, & used the red card to make the tongue. For the eyes we used recycled sticky foam disks & used a fine marker to add the detail.

6) And here's our dragon! A perfect storytelling puppet for Harry Potter fans!

 This puppet making technique could be used to make endless creations. How about jungle animals, sea creatures, or farm animals...

Here's our horse puppet made in the same style. Minnie has named her Dotty!

Dotty was created using the same technique as the dragon puppet. Instead of covering in tissue paper, Minnie painted the body & head with brown paint. We used old garden rope to create the neck & legs, & garden string for the mane & tail (using the screwdriver & strong glue to attach as before)

For Dotty's feet we used pine cones (collected on one of our woodland walks) & made a small hole in each before attaching the rope with glue.

We used recycled card for the ears, foam disks for the eyes, & sticks from the garden to make the rods.


So simple & frugal - I love it!

A perfect prop to accompany stories & songs.

A great activity for exploring creativity & design, colour, shape, size, movement (both of the puppet & own body). Great for inspiring play, imagination, language, creative storytelling, acting out familiar situations, & discovering imaginary worlds.

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