Crafting With Kids! Popsicle Stick Puppets

The boys have really gotten into crafting lately.  Just about everyday when asked what they want to do, one of them inevitably yells, “Let’s make crafts!”

Since my boys are 5 and 2 I often have to wrack my brains for something that both of them can do without too much assistance.  I always sit with them as they are making their crafts, but I want them to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with having made their own project with minimal assistance.

Some of my craft ideas turn out better than others.  I’m still a newbie at this crafting thing.

Last week, however I struck gold with my popsicle stick puppets!  They were easy for the boys to make, required minimal steps and materials to make, and took less than 5 minutes to make (great for short attention spans)!

Sometimes the easiest projects are the ones your kids will play with the longest.  Go figure. 🙂

P.S. This is also one of those activities that’s great for rainy days!

This is the puppet my 2 year old made. I just did the circles for the hands and feet. He did everything else.

Here is what you’ll need:

Popsicle Sticks (1 for each puppet)

Pipe Cleaner (2 for each puppet)

Small Sticky Googly Eyes (2 for each puppet)

Colored Feathers (1 for each puppet)

Glue Stick

How to make your popsicle stick puppet:

I’m not going to toy with your intelligence here.  This is a pretty simple craft so I’ll just give a few quick instructions.

1. Have your child wrap the arms first.  If you want you can do a little loop at the end of the arms for the hands and wrap the pokey part of the pipe cleaner around the hand so your child doesn’t poke himself.
2. Next wrap the legs.
3. When putting the eyes on make sure the eyes are small enough to fit on the stick without constantly falling off.
4. Apply the feather with a glue stick.  A glue stick is much easier to work with in this context than liquid glue.
5. Let the child draw on a mouth.
6. Let the puppet show Begin!!!