Tag: puppets

Missing-Mitten Puppets

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We loved this suggestion from our December issue of High Five magazine! What parent of small children doesn’t have an odd mitten or two lying around? Kids always seem to be losing just one of a pair. To prolong the fun, I also purchased a cheap three pack of gloves, so our imaginations could run wild with puppet making. Although mittens would have been ideal, gloves worked just as well for our new puppet friends.

First, we followed the two suggestions from High Five. An old yellow glove received orange thread as a mane, which Travis loved gluing to the fingertips.

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We added googly eyes and felt pieces for the nose and mouth. Black thread was perfect for little whiskers.

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Felt ears (in pink and blue), a blue felt nose, more googly eyes, and more black thread as whiskers turned an odd blue glove into a mouse. Squeak!

From there, I left Travis’s imagination take over. We had a very abstract elephant covered in orange thread and yellow felt, shown here in the foreground:

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He next asked to make a porcupine, so I got out “quills” from brown felt and Travis added a pom pom nose.

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Then he decided we needed a black cat, with pink felt ears and facial features. Travis insisted that the cat needed a sparkly pom pom, too.

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Then of course it’s time for a puppet show!

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What color mittens do you have on hand to turn into animals? Please share ideas in the comments!

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P Week!

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This week was all about the letter P, as Travis and I continue our journey through the Letter of the Week curriculum. The timing was perfect for fall-themed favorites like pumpkin pie, so consider holding your P week in the autumn, too, if you can!

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Puppets: We had so much fun making various puppets that I devoted a separate blog post to it. Whether you make puppets or use those you already own, pull them all out for a great big puppet show. Travis especially loved returning to our penguin puppet all week – another perfect P word.

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Pigs/Ponies: I combined these two animal words for fun with our Little People barn set, giving Travis only the pigs and ponies to play with. To take things a step further, we set up a great farm sensory bin, filled with yellow split peas (a.k.a. “corn”), tractors, pigs, and ponies. Travis loved “feeding” corn to the animals and raking through the box with a fork. Great for sensory play and imagination!

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Parade: Put Sousa marches on your computer, line up all your stuffed animals, give them each an instrument, and have a parade! If stuffed animals aren’t your child’s thing, line up cars or trucks instead.

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We added a policeman as parade marshal.

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Picnic: Far and away the most magical moment of our week, we took advantage of the warmest day to head to the park. A picnic basket, blanket, and beach ball are the only ingredients you need for a beautiful picnic. Travis loved having a snack outside before playing in the fall leaves!

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Pumpkin: Halloween is past but fall is still pumpkin season! We baked mini pumpkin pies early in the week, a great hands-on experience. We also made a pumpkin patch: Stuff brown paper sandwich bags with crumpled newspaper, leaving a little room. Tie off the end with ribbon to be the stem, and then use orange paint to cover your pumpkins. We ran out of orange midway, which was the perfect opportunity to show Travis how red and yellow combine to make orange. Once the paint dries, play with your pumpkin patch!

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(Hint: Add your pigs and ponies here, too).

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Puzzle: An obvious one: Pull out all your puzzles and leave them out all week so your child has ample time to puzzle over them.

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Piano: Whether you have toy pianos or a real one at home, this is likewise a great opportunity to leave it out so your child can return to it over the course of the week.

After those theme words, here are a few more ideas:

Fine art: Work those fine motor skills by crafting toy food from playdough. But not just any playdough… Pumpkin Pie Playdough! To make this easy at-home batch, combine the following in a saucepan over low heat:

2 and 3/4 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cups water

Orange food coloring

Cook until the mixture thickens and looks like mashed potatoes. Let cool before kneading and giving to your child for play.

 

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The dough smells fantastic, and is technically edible, but you’ll want to discourage any salty bites! Travis made mini pumpkin pies and cookies for his toy oven.

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Food: We had to start one morning with pumpkin pie-spiced pancakes of course! There are so many P foods you could probably eat P items and nothing else all week if you wanted to. In addition to pancakes we had: peaches, pickles (which got a surprised and firm “no!”, pretzels, parsnips, pizza, pudding, pears, and pineapple.

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Books: The clear favorite from the library this week was The Perfect Pony, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Travis also enjoyed Clifford and the Big Parade, by Norman Bridwell, Penguin Says Please, by Michael Dahl, and The New Puppy, by Laurence Anholt. And of course, read any potty books you have!

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Song: A cute one to listen to is Way Down Yonder in the Paw Paw Patch. I also set Pachabel’s Canon to play in the background while we were home one afternoon; Travis barely noticed, but it’s one of my all time favorites and osmosis can’t hurt!

Math: Introduce patterns. Children’s peg boards with pattern cards are a great skill-builder. Your child can copy the pattern cards that come with the peg board, or you can demonstrate something simpler, like a row of red-green-red-green. These toys are fantastic to have around anyway, so consider investing in one.

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That’s all for this week!

Puppet Fun!

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There are dozens of ways to make puppets at home, many requiring only simple items you likely already have on hand. To wit, below are three kinds of puppets that we tried out this past week. Don’t forget to have a puppet show at the end!

Perhaps the easiest puppets ever, snip the fingers from rubber gloves, and let your child decorate with markers. Travis told me this was a girl and her smile!

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I added animal faces to a few of the other fingers to spark his imaginative play. He was equally delighted by the glove that I left intact, which became a puppet and toy all of its own, no decoration required!

Next, we made “walking finger puppets.” Draw the head and torso of people or animals on poster board, then cut two slits near the bottom big enough for your child’s fingers to fit through.

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The fingers become the “legs” to walk about. Travis was initially hesitant at this new idea, but once he got the hang of it, he loved walking his puppets everywhere.

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Finally, we made a paper bag penguin puppet (how’s that for alliteration!). I mostly put the craft together myself, but Travis and I discussed the shapes as I cut them out: white ovals for body and face, an orange triangle for the beak, orange rectangle strips for the hair, and two black triangles for the feet.

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Next, he helped glue on two googly eyes. Once the glue dried, we colored over the brown bag with black marker.

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Although he was least interested in the preparation of this puppet, it was far and away his favorite to play with. He loved “talking” with the penguin while it was on my hand, telling it stories and asking for more.

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I’d love to hear about any other easy puppets you’ve made at home in the comments!