3 Creative Ways to Make Puppets

Children respond to puppets so differently than to people. I love using puppets especially with my preschool and Kindergarten students. I’ve made puppets out of some unusual things. These rabbits were from the dollar store and have a webbing back. I made a white sleeve out of a dish towel and just hold the bunny face with my fingers.

 

             

  For these fun Valentine’s Day Puppets I took some dowels and painted them white. Then I took some puff paint and wrote on some pre-made heart foam shapes. I used some leftover fringe to make a mustache for my boy puppet and used it for hair for the girl. I put all of the puppets in a vase and set them on my piano.

You can make puppets out of animal paper plates just using the plate and popsicle sticks. Or turn it into a craft activity.  Give each child an animal and have them share the sounds, actions and information about the animal.

The following information was told to me by my friend Ayako Egawa:
The Rabbit Song is associated with a Japanese festival called “JUGO-YA” (full moon night).
Some people gather to watch the beautiful full moon in Japanese gardens and temples. The green tea ceremony and KOTO playing are held. Pampas grass, SAKE, and DANGO (rice paste ball) are offered to the moon.
Japanese people associate the pattern of the moon’s surface with rabbits making MOCHI, that is rice cakes. 
Ayako translated the rabbit song like this:
“Pretty rabbit, what do you watch while hopping around?
I watch JUGO-YA moon while hopping around.”