How to Make and Sew Easy Felt Hand Puppets for Children.
We have two little girls and every Christmas and birthday, my husband, and I work very hard to come up with presents that are both healthy on the budget and imaginative for our developing girls. My husband and I decided long ago that we wanted to reduce the number of electronics in the house. Meaning reduce TV and tablet time, electronic games, and using of smartphones. So this mode of thinking lead to buying less electronics for the kids holiday and birthday presents and making more useful gifts like these felt hand puppets.
One of the benefits of puppet play is the help of your child’s communication and social skills. They are a great springboard for developing listening and speaking skills along with the self-confidence to express one’s ideas and feelings. More introverted or shy children may feel more confident using puppets to express themselves. Children also have the freedom to practice new personalities, feelings,
Hand puppets increase children’s creative skills. They help them by forcing them to use their imaginations, makeup roles, rules, problems, and solutions. They can help older children understand and develop good storytelling and in turn, how to write stories later on.
How to Make Your Own Puppets.
Now when I decided to make these puppets for my girls, I wanted them to be fast and easy. I know with everything else, I wouldn’t have time for a very involved craft project. So the first thing I did was make a body template that would fit for every animal and person puppet made. I also wanted to make these puppets large enough that they would fit an adult hand. That way, my husband and I could join in the fun and make it more of family activity. Practice drawing out your template until you have a shape you want.
Now, you have your template and have cut it out. I used a harder stock paper for my template because I knew I would be using it often and wanted it to hold up for repeated uses.
You will also need colored felt. I had some on hand but also bought some more from the crafts store for the colors I didn’t have. My suggestion would be to come up with the animals or people you want to make first and then go ahead and purchase your felt pieces. You can save money and time that way.
Next, you want to cut out your body template out of the felt. You will need to cut out two pieces of
Once you have your animals and people picked out and the colors of felt cut out, it is time to draw out and cut the details that are going to make these puppets recognizable. I didn’t make any templates for these details but you can easily mimic mine from the pictures below or come up with your own. Be creative and be prepared to repeat pieces. Sometimes they don’t come out properly.
When you are ready, apply the details first with a spray adhesive. This adhesive is a great starter to get all the pieces put in place as a good visual. I only applied details to the front body template piece but you can make a back if you wish. Layout your glued pieces on a hard Styrofoam and let the glue to dry. Just a word of warning, if you spray too much adhesive, then the entire project becomes too tacky, and it gets hard to place a piece or sometimes the piece come back off on your fingers.
This glue is not a permeant solution, so when everything is dry, hand sews the pieces in place. Try to use the same color thread as the color felt detail. This will help to make the puppet look more authentic. I like to sew small stitches for eyebrows and noses on my people puppets. You can also sew the eyes if you wish. On a few puppets, I have used a small tip Sharpie marker to draw on some of the animal’s mouth and whiskers. Lastly, sew the back felt to the detailed front using an overcasting stitch on a sewing machine or by hand. For the best look, use the same color thread as the felt or you can do a contrasting stitch to show up. I did the contrasting thread but only because I didn’t have any other thread color to use.
Now you have your puppets, so don’t forget your theatre!
