Talking Stick Puppet Tutorial

During a recent neighborhood movie night,
the featured film was
The Muppets.

I was in charge of the pre-movie craft,
so what better thing to make
for a Muppet movie than...

...Talking Stick Puppets?

I pre-made the puppet bodies
 and let the kiddos personalize the puppets
with a variety craft supplies.

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To make the puppet body,
you will  need the following supplies:

Craft foam
Craft sticks
Scissors
Round cookie cutter
(or another shape,
depending upon what kind of head you want)
Hot glue gun

1.  Push the cookie cutter into the craft foam
to make an outline.

2.  Cut around the outline to reveal
you puppet's head.

3.  Cut out a section of the head to make a mouth for
your puppet.

4.  Hot glue the different sections of the "head"
onto the tops of two craft sticks.

5.  Cut out a strip of foam that is about
half an inch thick and one to two inches long.

6.  Glue the strip on the front
of the "mouth piece" stick.

7.  Place the "mouth piece" stick on  top of

the "head" stick.

8.  Wrap the strip around both sticks and glue the
loose end of the strip on top of the other end of the strip.

You are now ready to get creative and customize
your puppet.

When you are done,
you can make the puppet talk by
moving its head...

...up and down...

...up and down...

...up and down!