Following our visit to the Jim Henson exhibition and the girls fascination with puppet play, they wanted to try making hand puppets.

When they were younger we watched this inspirational video from the 1960’s, where Jim Henson talks about making muppets.

We made a few puppets from old tights with foam pieces for the mouth. The girls didn’t like the foam mouths as it restricted their fingers.

This time, they are a little older and have their own ideas (always better than mine) for making puppets.

The first puppet was made with a sock.  We used a sock from an aeroplane wash kit. They followed the steps on the video and I helped them with ideas.

How to make a Sock Puppet

1. Cut an oval of cardboard and fold it.

2. Place the cardboard inside the sock and secure with an elastic band to make a mouth.

3. Add eyes. We used adhesive Velcro strips to join on our eyes and nose.

4. Add a nose. We used a pompom.

5. Add hair.  Use wool, string or fur. This was also joined on with Velcro but you could also stitch it on.

Step 6: Add a tongue. We made a paper tongue and glued it on but you could also use felt or fabric.

My daughter named her Izzy. I think she is an amazing addition to our puppet collection.

Here she is in action.

How to Make a Puppet from an Envelope

The Jim Henson video also inspired them to make a puppet from an envelope.

1.  Fold the envelope into a beak shape and decorate it.

2. Glue the envelope head onto a sock. We used double sided pads used for sticking pictures to the wall.

3. Wrap material around the sock .

4.  If desired add clothes and make hands using sticks and cardboard. American Girl doll, or build a bear clothes work well.

They decided this one should be called Pierre.

Here is Pierre in action.