Buy crafting felt at craft supply stores.
You can turn scrap-size pieces of craft felt into a menagerie of finger puppets. Fashion the puppets from storybook characters and use them for finger-length storytellers. Create sets of animals, such as farm creatures or wild beasts, and introduce your toddler to the sounds and names of the animals as you entertain him with the puppets. Introduce your older children to the puppet-creation process. Allow them to craft their own felt finger puppets and put on a theatrical performance for the family.
Instructions
1. Choose a color felt that is appropriate for the body of your puppet, such as pink for a pig, tan for a person, green for a leprechaun or brown for a horse. Cut two 1 5/8-by-3-inch pieces of the felt. Stack the two rectangles on top of each other and cut a curved shape in one of the short sides of the felt.
2. Stitch along the sides and across the curved end of the two pieces of felt, but leave the flat short end unsewn. Flip the felt so that the seams are on the inside.
3. Attach a 1-inch circle of light-colored felt to one side on the curved end using hot glue, if you are making a person puppet. Hot-glue two googly eyes to one side of the upper end of the curved part of the felt.
4. Cut out two ears according to what kind of puppet you are making, such as round pink ears for a mouse, large gray elephant ears or no ears for a snake, using the appropriate color of felt. Stitch an ear to each side of the upper-part of the puppet.
5. Fashion a trunk for an elephant by cutting a 1-by-1/2-inch "s" shape from grey felt and stitch one end below the puppet's eyes. Hot-glue a 1/4-inch circle of pink felt for a pig's snout, cow's nose or cat's mouth. Draw two dots on the felt using a black permanent marker on the end of the pink circle for the nostrils. Dot the felt with two black dots for the nose of a frog.
6. Cut a small thin triangle out of yellow or orange felt for a beak. Attach it as the mouth of a chicken, baby bird or penguin puppet using hot glue.
7. Affix plumage in the form of small craft feathers to the top or all over the puppet depending on what kind of bird you are making, if appropriate. Hot-glue fluffed cotton balls all over the back and on the bottom half of the front of a puppet that is a lamb or sheep. Cut 10 1-inch pieces of yarn and hot-glue these around the face to create a mane for a lion or long-haired dog puppet.
8. Draw a mouth onto the puppets using the black permanent marker.
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