Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

September 6, 2003 - Issue 95

Juice Box Puppets

Puppets can lead to hours of creative fun. Here, we share some ideas for making puppets out of empty juice boxes.

• 1 - 4.23 oz. or 6.75 oz. empty juice box
• White, brown and/or black pipe cleaner
• 3/8-inch dowel rod (8-inches long)
• Pieces of colored felt
• Non-toxic tacky craft glue
• Wiggly eyes
• Styrofoam ball (approximately 3-inches in diameter)
• Colored yarn
• White pom-poms or small cotton balls
• Safety Scissors
  

• Dry out empty boxes.
• Cut slits at the top and bottom of the juice box to put dowel through.
• The dowel should extend out about 3-1/2-inches at the bottom to create a handle and about 1-inch at the top.
• Press the Styrofoam ball onto the dowel for the puppet's head.
• Cut small slits on sides of box and insert a pipe cleaner through. Twist the ends to create a circle for hands.
• To make the hair:
• For a girl puppet – Wrap yarn around fingers about 15 times. Tie off the yarn so it is a complete circle. Cut one end and use another color to tie a bow.
• For a boy puppet – Cut pieces of black or brown pipe cleaner into 1-1/2-inch pieces (for blond hair, you can color the pipe cleaner yellow). Insert into top of Styrofoam ball to create "spiked" hair.
• Glue on wiggly eyes (or you may use round pieces of felt).
• Cut out and glue on a felt mouth.
• Use colored felt to dress the puppets:
• For a girl puppet – Cut out two simple dress shapes and glue onto the front and back of the box. Glue three pom-poms to the front of the dress.
• For a boy puppet – Cut out two felt rectangles for the shirt and glue onto the front and back of the juice box. Cut out a collar shape and glue to the front (near the top). Cut out two squares with a "vee" slit at the bottom to create shorts. Glue these to the front (near the bottom) and back

• Have kids make original puppets and then write a puppet show about them.
• Create puppets that represent favorite characters from books and act out the story.

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