by: Janice Wee
Your kids can make a puppet theater and an assortment of puppets all by themselves.
Materials Needed
I admit that this theater is nowhere near the kids puppet theaters you can get at http://www.toyskidslove.com/puppet-theaters.htm. Still, for the budget conscious, your kids can still get their makeshift puppet theater if you do it yourselves. A bonus is that your kids would be busy for hours just making their puppets. Ideal if you are broke and have with a bunch of kids that need to be kept out of mischief.
For the puppets, finger puppets are ideal for starters. My 6 year old boy thought up this puppet design all by himself. He used colored paper, wrapped loosely around a finger. He taped the the paper shut, loose enough so he could put on or take off the puppets as he wished. Then he drew a face on the tip of the puppet. His elder brother liked that design and helped him make a variety of such finger puppets with different colors and different expressions.
The puppets I had initially taught them to make required much more work. Here's how you can make some simple puppets.
Once you have enough puppets, you can make the theater.
The Puppet Theater
Spread the cloth over the table, so that the front and sides are completely covered, but the back of the table is fully exposed.
That covered table is the puppet theater.
The children can hide behind the theater, put on the finger puppets on their fingers, lift their hands over their heads to perform the puppet show.
Pay attention when your kids perform their puppet show for you. Participate when they ask you to. Your attention means a lot to them.