Hand puppets are fun crafts for kids, and Puppet Stage is just as much fun. If you want to make hand puppets, you can be sure that this is a relatively easy task. You just need a few basic ingredients, a little intention, and some instructions.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Making a Hand Puppet with Socks
Step 1. Take a clean sock in the color you want
The most basic thing you need to make a doll is clean socks. If you want to create a special character, think about the color.
Keep in mind that black socks will be more difficult to draw. Understand that you will need to paste objects to make the faces instead of drawing them
Step 2. Determine the space for the doll's face
Tuck the socks into your hands, and use your thumbs as your lower jaw and your fingers to shape your face and upper jaw. This will help you define space on the socks for your eyes, nose, hair, etc.
Step 3. Make the doll's eyes
You can use a variety of objects to make eyes for your sock doll.
- Try using doll eyes. You can find them at a craft store or the crafts section of major stores.
- You can also draw eyes on a piece of construction paper.
- Use flannel with stacked round shapes to make the whites of the eyes, eye color and pupil of the eye as another option.
- Try using beads as eyes. You can find many different types of beads at a craft store.
- If you have to take the sock out of your hand to make the eyes, make a small mark where the eye is with a ballpoint pen, so you can see roughly the size you want the eyes to be.
Step 4. Glue the eyes
Depending on what you decide to be the eyes, you may have to attach them in several ways. For quick and easy results, you can use a glue stick, but hot glue will give better results.
- If using beads and flannel, you can choose to sew the eye on the sock.
- If you're using hot glue, make sure you remove the sock from your hand first so it doesn't hit your hand.
Step 5. Make a mouth for your doll
You can make a mouth for your sock doll in as simple or as complicated a way as you like. To make a simple mouth, try using crayon or fabric marker to draw the lips. Insert your hand into the sock doll and determine where you will place the mouth based on the width of your hand. Draw the lips between the fingers forming them.
You can also make the lips more complicated. You might consider making a tongue out of construction paper or flannel, embroidering the teeth with beads, or drawing a clearer mouth
Step 6. Make hair for your doll
If you decide your doll will have hair, you can easily use knitting yarn, string, or whatever you want to create. Just cut the material to a certain size and attach it to the top of the sock after determining the hairline for your doll.
Step 7. Give your doll a nose
You have more options for the doll's nose than the rest of the face. You can use flannel, pompons, crayons, markers, or even leave your doll without a nose.
In most dolls, drawing the nostrils with a black or colored marker is sufficient to show the shape of the nose
Step 8. Decorate your sock doll
Once you have the basic doll shape, feel free to add any embellishments you want. You can add antennae with feather wire and pompons, make the ears by folding them or using flannel, add glasses or hats, etc.
Method 2 of 3: Making a Simple Flannel Hand Puppet
Step 1. Purchase a flannel, cloth, or other material that you want to use to make your hand puppet
You'll need to buy a material that you can sew on, but the choice is up to you. Use an old pillowcase or old curtain fabric.
Step 2. Make the mold
There are several ways to make hand puppet prints. You can buy them at a craft store, download them from the internet, or make your own.
- If you want to make a basic hand puppet print yourself, place your palm on a piece of cloth. Now draw small dots on the fabric on both sides of your hand to determine the width. This will be the width of your hand puppet print.
- Once you've done that, you can start drawing the outline of the doll. If you want your doll to have arms, remember that your thumb and little finger will control them. Place your hand back on the cloth and determine where your thumb and little finger will branch from your hand. This is where the base of the doll's arm is.
- Make sure you make room for your finger on the doll's head as well. Your index, middle, and ring fingers will be inside, so make sure they're wide enough to fit all three of them.
- Otherwise, the picture is up to you! Use the width of your hand as a guide to draw two straight parallel lines. Now round the two lines diagonally away from each other to make the arms. Try to make them the same length. Keep in mind that the size should be fairly short. Once you've finished the outline of the arms, draw a semicircle for the head. Add ears, horns, or whatever else you want on the line.
Step 3. Stack the two pieces of fabric on top of each other
Place the fabric you have drawn or printed on top of the second fabric.
Step 4. Cut the two sheets of fabric following the mold
Try not to cut so much that your hand doesn't fit in it. Make sure the two fabrics are stacked parallel. When you start cutting make sure the fabric doesn't shift. If you're worried about making a mistake you can trace your print on a piece of paper first and then cut the fabric one by one.
Step 5. Sew the two fabrics together
Sew around the edge of the cut fabric. Make sure you leave a hole in the bottom so you can put your hand in it.
Step 6. Embroider your doll
You can add string to make the eyes and mouth, different colored fabric to give the doll circles, or anything else you can think of. If you sew another piece of fabric on your doll, make sure you only sew on one side of your doll's fabric. Otherwise, your doll will stick.
Method 3 of 3: Making Finger Puppets
Step 1. Make a molded image of a doll shape
The hand puppet should be sized to fit your hand from your wrist to your fingertips. Trace around your hand on a sheet of paper, spreading your thumbs apart. Your thumb will become one of the doll's arms, your index finger will become the head, your middle finger will become the other arm, and your two smallest fingers will bend in the palm of your hand.
- Remember to include any other details you want on the flannel print, such as a semicircle above the head to create the ears.
- You can also leave a bit of space on the fingertips to make room for sewing.
Step 2. Cut the mold
When you have the print you want, cut the paper print out.
Step 3. Attach the mold to a piece of flannel with a needle
You'll need flannel, which can be found at a craft store or the crafts section of a large grocery store. Instead of tracing the print on the flannel, you can easily attach it to the flannel with a needle.
- Remember to make sure the bottom of the print (the printed edge of your wrist) is aligned with the bottom edge of the flannel. This is where your hand goes inside the doll.
- You will need both the front and back pieces of the hand puppet, so you can stack the two flannel pieces one on top of the other and thread the prints with a needle on both flannel sheets.
Step 4. Cut a hand puppet shape from the flannel
With the mold firmly attached to the flannel, you can cut the shape of a hand puppet. Try to be able to cut it in smooth, supple cuts rather than jagged to ensure you have a neat result.
If you didn't stack the two flannel sheets together, glue the mold to the second piece of flannel with a needle and cut it out
Step 5. Decorate the doll's body
It will be easier if you add decorations to the doll's body before sewing the two sides, because now is a good time to decorate the doll's body. For example, if you're making a teddy bear, you could use a dark brown flannel for the body, and you could add a round, light brown flannel for the belly.
- You can attach the belly with hot glue or sew it on.
- All the sewing required for this piece is very simple, but you can learn more how to sew if necessary at: How to Sew.
Step 6. Give the doll a face
Now you are ready to decorate your hand puppet face. You can use various objects to help you create the face.
- Consider using beads, scraps of flannel, or doll eyes for the eyes.
- You can use beads, pompons, or stitch knots for the nose.
- To make a mouth, you can make lips or tongue with flannel, sew a mouth, or use other ideas for making a mouth.
- If you're making the shape for the ears with flannel, you can also add detail to the ears by sewing or gluing smaller semicircles of flannel to the ears. In the teddy bear example, you can use the same color as the belly.
Step 7. Sew the front and back side sheets of the doll together
When you're happy with the doll's body and face, you're ready to sew the two sides together. Follow the edges of the flannel and sew in a stitch that's tight enough so that your fingers can't come out of the gaps along the edges.
Remember to leave the bottom edge of the doll unstitched, as this will be where you put your hand inside the doll
Step 8. Play with your doll
When you are done with all the sewing, you are ready to play with your doll. Insert your hand into the doll in the most comfortable finger position and start practicing moving your doll's arms and head.
