Puppet theatre - homemade with love

 

A little friend's 3rd birthday was the perfect excuse for a DIY gift of a puppet theatre to accompany some little finger puppets! ... And it was more than fun - it was super easy!

We chose an empty copy paper box with a lid for the transformation...

 

 

Materials required  

(Actually - I should say "materials used" - as you certainly don't require any of these to create your own design - so many options and possibilities. I just like to make use of whatever I already have at home):

• Red, yellow & silver paint (and brushes)
• yellow cardboard & texta
• 5 pom poms
• 2 x popsicle sticks
• ribbon
• 2 x fancy pipe cleaners / glitter glue
• knife (adult use / supervision) - to cut the hole, and to pierce the box for the ribbon, sticks, and sparkly pipe cleaner to be threaded through. 
• sticky tape (to secure the popsicle sticks from the inside
• glue (to secure the banner to the popsicle sticks, pom poms, and the paper to the lid)
• coloured paper/ scissors

** A piece of cardboard could be used on the inside - to sit loosely, so that puppets can be stored inside the box!

 

 

Of course, as we were making this for a birthday gift,  we had to try it out... just to make sure that it all worked OK! I just loved watching B (2 1/2 years) manipulate his little fingers and work out how to put the finger puppets on / off!

 

We took it in turns to put on a little (very little!!) show for each other - silly little greetings, questions and scenarios, animal sounds, songs... I noticed that B really enjoyed the characters saying hello to each other, having something to eat (or looking for food), then saying goodbye! Too cute!

 

Also, when it was my turn, although it may have only been seconds, and his attention seemed to be only longing for his turn to come around again, I was surprised to see he was actually watching and listening to every detail - as I saw him imitate some of my ideas later. It was great to also see him talking about things he'd seen / heard around home and child care too... 

And then came the song requests...

  

So much fun! The verdict?  - Approved:-) 

  

 I wasn't sure how B would go handing over his hard work (as he had watched the whole "making of" and helped out with many steps); especially as we'd had fun testing it out... but he was fine! In fact he was very proud to give his little friend this gift. Perhaps as we had constantly referred to it as hers?

Do you enjoy making gifts for family/friends? It's something I am going to make a real effort to do more of in the future!

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to check out these other ideas from Kids' Play Space:
2nd Birthday Tea Party in the Park
Kids Party Rice Cones
Outdoor Puppet Theatre

Thanks for visiting Kids' Play Space!
happy playing,
'til soon,

Anna :-) 

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