How To Make A Hand Puppet With Preschoolers
Early Childhood Environmental Awareness Art Activity
Nov 16, 2009
Reuse cardboard tubes to create fabulous new hand puppets in the preschool classroom. This art project inspires creativity in young children, and helps the environment. Teach about basic art concepts such as color and shape, while including a lesson on being green!
Recycled Cardboard Tube Puppet Lesson Objectives
- Explore art materials and process.
- Learn about puppets and puppetry.
- Increase environmental awareness.
- Develop fine motor skills.
- Develop color and shape recognition skills.
- Follow steps in a sequence.
Age/ Grade Level
This art activity can be used with (or adapted for) children ages three and up.
Materials Needed to Create Puppets
- Reused cardboard tubes (long tubes such as paper towel rolls may be cut into two)
- Markers
- Tempera paints
- Paint brushes
- Optional: Fabric scraps, yarn scraps, and non-toxic clear drying school glue
Steps to Create Preschool Puppet Art
Pre-Planning
Collect used cardboard tubes. Ask parents and other teachers to donate these items. Make sure that the tubes are clean, and free from any food debris. It may be helpful to send a letter home detailing what exactly is needed for this project. Avoid any tube that has been contaminated with raw meet or egg products, as well as toilet paper tubes.
Clean the tubes before use. This may mean removing any left over pieces of paper towel.
Pre-Activity
Discuss puppets and puppetry with the class. Invite each child to choose one character for his or her puppet. This may be a person (real or fictional) or an animal. Additionally, some teachers may opt for a class theme. This can be a classroom unit such as farm animals, characters from a story book, or self-portrait (self-concept) puppets.
Process Steps
- Ask the children to paint the outside of the cardboard tube using tempera paint and a large bristled brush.
- Select a smaller brush to add facial features and other details such as clothing or patterns (e.g., animal spots or stripes).
- Set aside to dry.
- Optional: Add texture by gluing reused fabric scraps onto the cardboard tube. For an added effect, try gluing yarn scraps to the top as hair.
- Once dry, the puppet is ready to be used. Ask the children to move the middle three fingers of one hand together. Place the tube over these fingers, creating a hand puppet.
Preschool Puppet Making Activity Wrap Up
While the puppets are drying, take some time for an art discussion. Ask the children about the art materials and process used. Invite each child to add something specific about creating his or her puppet.
Early Childhood Enrichment Activities
Add to this puppet making art lesson with an activity that is linked to other curricular areas. Examples include:
- Dramatic/Pretend Play: Give the class a free play period to imagine and create interesting stories for the puppets.
- Puppet Play: Choose specific characters from a favorite book, and put on a class play complete with invitations and a theater.
- Science/Nature: Combine this activity with a unit on animals or sea creatures. Make naturalistic puppets that match illustrations or photographs from non-fiction animal books.
- Literacy: Celebrate a favorite children’s book or author by creating specific story puppets.
- Emotions: Use the puppets to help a young child express his or her emotions. Create happy, sad, or mad puppets.
Puppet making is a great art activity for preschoolers. Collect cardboard tubes from the classroom parents, and begin the imaginative transformation. Create animals, people, or other fanciful creatures while building environmental awareness.
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