Homemade Puppets
That Are Easy To Make

This page explains how you can make simple but effective homemade puppets for toddlers.

You can also find out how to get your child involved in the creative process.

All these ideas are definitely for the artistically faint-hearted.

No drawing or painting skills required!

Toddlers' hands are small enough to fit inside a toilet roll, which makes these household items perfect for cheap yet versatile homemade puppets.

I made all of the puppets shown using inexpensive finger paint or basic water soluble paint that comes in plastic palette boxes, and items from a craft kit.

Homemade Puppets
Cheap To Make And So Much Fun

These are the easiest puppets to make. Simply paint the toilet roll, then stick pictures of your toddler's favourite characters onto each roll - you could get the child involved in the glueing.

Cut pictures from magazines or print them off from The Internet. I found it useful to copy and paste into word, and resize with the toilet roll beside the computer, to ensure the size was right.

Toddlers will enjoy pretending to be Bob The Builder or Barney the dinosaur. Join in the role play, and you have a game that encourages both social skills (turn-taking) and language development.

Imaginative Puppets

Let your toddler's imagination run wild and create some wierd and wonderful homemade puppets like the ones shown here. All the materials come from a basic child's craft kit that cost £5 ($10).

For this green puppet, I used glitter glue for the face and the foam hands are held in place by 2 slits cut downwards from the top of the roll.

To make the hair on this pink puppet, I cut a strip of crepe paper long enough to fit round the toilet roll a few times, and about 3cm wide. I snipped small sections roughly 1.5cm widthways. I then glued the crepe paper around the inside of the puppet's 'head' so the snipped sections flopped out.

For this puppet, I found the feathers were surprisingly easy to fix using only PVA glue. It was fun to create a bit of a Viva las Vegas look (well as much as you can with a toilet roll!).

The bald head on this old man was made by blowing up a balloon inside the toilet roll so it fit snugly inside - there was no need to glue it on.

Be aware that after a couple of days the balloon will deflate, and that any toilet roll puppet has a limited shelf life. They are not super durable BUT they do allow you to get your toddler involved in making them.

Sock Puppet

Sock puppets are more traditional homemade puppets, but they still continue to delight toddlers. They have the advantage of being durable yet versatile - there is a lot you can express with a sock!

Use a thick sock for a longer-lasting puppet, and one that can easily take buttons (for eyes) being sewn on. Add a felt tongue for an optional extra.

Easiest Of Them All
Finger Puppets

You may want to spend a bit more time, on your finger puppets, than I did.

It is not that easy to do.

I just used biro, which can drag a little. It took a few seconds, think the one on the left is a bit angry looking, so will need changing.

But great when holding a book, as the little finger family can pop their heads over the book.

Surprise!

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