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I love finger puppets and their positive role in learning through play. They provide opportunities for boosting fine motor and language skills while exercising imagination through creative storytelling. After making woodland finger puppets patterns, I got the idea to have my kids make their own felt finger puppet craft. The mid-term break was a perfect time to make felt finger puppets with my kids and their friends. They were proud of their puppets and enthusiastic to play with them. My son came a few days later saying he wants to make another one! This article shows you how to set up a felt finger puppet workshop for kids and how your kids can make this easy kids’ craft with Fun Cloth Crafts finger puppet template.

Happy felt crafting with kids!

I always keep all the felt scraps from my felt patterns and felt banners hoping to use them one day. This fun felt craft project is a lovely way to use up at least some of them :) The project is suitable for kids aged 4 years up. Kids spend up to 1 hour creating their finger puppets. During my finger puppet workshop, they did 2 finger puppets each before losing interest.

Content Finger Puppet Felt Craft for Kids

1. Why are Puppets Important for Learning Through Play?

2. Materials & Supplies Felt Finger Puppet Craft for Kids

3. How to Make Felt Finger Puppet Craft for Kids

4. To Wrap Up

I am a big fan of finger puppets and puppets in general. They can be used anytime, anywhere for learning through play. Puppets can improve fine motor skills, language skills, creativity, build self-confidence, and more. Kids can have fun with them in so many different ways.

5 Benefits of Playing with Puppets

1. Creativity

   Creativity is boosted in at least two ways when interacting with puppets:

   • Playing with the puppets using different characters and personalities. Kids can direct their own puppet show.

   • Making the puppet. Moreover, creativity may be enhanced by making own props and homemade theatres.

2. Building self-confidence

   Children communicate naturally with puppets. They gain confidence in expressing themselves as the puppet takes the centre stage. For the child it becomes easier to read or speak out loud in front of peers, adults, parents with a puppet friend’s help.

   I could observe how puppets help with self-confidence with my son Lukas. He wasn't confident of performing an act for the school on his own. Olivia, his sister, performed the show with Lukas, so he feels more comfortable. However, two days later, he did the same act with finger puppets without too much convincing.

3. Language development

   Interacting with the puppets stimulates conversation and encourages language development and vocabulary skills. Puppets are excellent for second language learning. Children become more confident to speak in a new language having a puppet in their hand.

4. Emotional development

   Puppets can teach children about their emotions and help to share feelings and thoughts. Puppets share children’s ability to be happy, sad, angry, funny, or jealous.

   Besides, puppets can meet children’s emotional needs by being their friend when they feel lonely.

5. Fine motor skills

   There are two ways fine motor skills can be enhanced with puppets:

   • Wearing and using the finger puppet improves fine motor skills.

   • Creating a finger puppet by cutting, gluing, sewing. Furthermore, working with different materials increases awareness of touch.

7 Ideas for Playing with Puppets

1. Storytelling and Acting with Puppets

   The children invent their own story, or a story they are familiar with, and tell it using their finger puppets.

   Advance your reading time and make your kids feel part of the story with finger puppets! The book comes to life, isn't it nice?

   Some ideas of an old-time favorite for storytelling:

   Three little pigs

   We're going on a bear hunt

   The little red riding hood

   Goldilocks and the three bears

2. Sing with Puppets

   Puppets can sing high, sing low, sing loud, sing soft. Get the puppet to lead the singing.

   Lucuma design writes, “Many cute rhymes and songs can be illustrated with puppets that put children at ease. Help them find their voice with songs you already know!”

3. Grammar Fun with Puppets

   Think of ways you could use the puppets to help children show understanding of different grammar structures. 

   Examples of where puppets can support grammar learning (taken from How to use sock puppets to improve grammar):

   1. Use of “he” or ”she” in response to “who will eat this one?”

   2. Use of “his” or “her” in response to “whose ___ is this?”

   3. Use of possessive ‘s in response to “whose ___ is this?”

   4. Use of proper verb tenses like future tense (he is going to eat), present tense (he is eating), and past tense (he ate).

   Other examples include practicing comparisons and prepositions.

4. Math Fun with Puppets

   Wouldn’t it be great to make math learning fun? Martin Williams shares 14 math activities in Using Puppets To Teach Maths.

   He also states, “Puppets can be used to teach a range of maths skills. Finger puppets really help with teaching counting songs. Larger puppets can be used to teach counting, missing numbers and other skills like starting counting at a given number. Puppets can also be utilised very effectively to teach more advanced skills like problem solving, sharing, and simple addition and subtraction.”

5. Making your own Props, Scenes and Homemade Theaters

   What about helping your child create additional props, scenes for the stories, songs, or rhymes your child already knows. Making a homemade theatre can be a lovely project for long winter nights.

6. Role-playing with Puppets

   I also find puppets to be a valuable resource when preparing for a new situation or dealing with a transition in a child’s life. Role-playing starting preschool with some small characters lets your child test out the new experience from the safety of their own home. Other ideas for role-playing include moving houses, moving countries, starting school, etc.

   Also, puppets can help with difficult situations. A puppet might have trouble sharing toys with the other puppet. Show your child a kind way to solve the problem, encouraging the same behavior in your child.

7. Travel Buddy

   Bringing a puppet in your travel bag or taking one in your handbag is a wonderful way to provide entertainment to your child in any situation.

More on why to play with puppets at home or in the classroom:

• The Amazing Benefits of Playing with Puppets in Early Childhood

• 6 Big Benefits of Puppet-Play for Children

• Six ideas for using finger puppets in class

• 14 Brilliant Ways To Use Puppets For Storytelling

• A Step-by-Step Guide for Using Puppets to Nurture Your Primary Students’ Reading Development

• 5 Reasons Early Learners Love Puppets

• Finger puppet template

• Felt scraps

• Glue (for kids felt craft I used Elmer’s Craft Bond Fabric and Paper Glue, and the Liquid silicon that I have from Mexico - I cannot find its equivalent in Europe; with parent’s assistance the Hot Glue Gun might also be an option)

• Scissors (my favourite ones are KAI 5 1/2 inch embroidery scissors)

• Any suitable material you might find at home or like to have at home:

  • Googly eyes with self-adhesive

  • Ribbons

  • Felt scraps

  • Alphabet letter beads

  • Embroidery floss (DMC Embroidery Floss Pack) and embroidery needles

  • Foam shapes

  • Markers

1. Download and print the free finger puppet template (from Materials & Supplies). Cut the finger puppet’s body from felt.

   TIP: I cut two felt layers at the same time.

   TIP: I had 3 pairs of finger puppet bodies ready for each child. They actually did 2 finger puppets each before losing interest. Use all your felt scraps and do different colors.

   TIP: Older children may cut the finger puppet template themselves.

   TIP: Risk-taker older children could cut their own finger puppet body design using the template shared as guidance for approximate size.

   TIP:  Learn more about How to cut felt from my post.

2. Gather all material that could be useful for the finger puppet kids’ craft.

   TIPS: I searched at home and found sticky googly eyes, small ribbon pieces, small felt craps, embroidery floss pieces, alphabet beads. I have even found foam hearts and stars.

3. Prepare all the material, including scissors and glue.

   TIPS: I placed everything in various bowls.

4. Gather your kids and explain what to do :)

   I had 5 children making the finger puppets (3 of mine and 2 friends). At this moment, they looked a bit surprised at what is going on. So, I decided to show them how to make an easy monster finger puppet. This should help to give them an idea of what finger puppets they could do. In my case, it meant that everybody started making a monster finger puppet :)

   TIP on how you can guide your kids: Let’s give your finger puppet monster an eye or two or three! My little one used 6 google eyes in the end. And what about hands, maybe mouth and hair? Your monster can also have a name :) I had to help my children to sew the name on the puppets.

5. Let your kids create their finger puppet! My kids (aged 4-8) did almost everything by glue.

   TIP: Older children (6 years old and up) can also hand-sew their design and join the body by running stitch.

   TIP: Learn more about hand embroidery stitches for felt in my post.

Look at the dragon finger puppet of Olivia (my 8 year’s old daughter). She drew the dragon’s wings, tail, and fire on freezer paper, and I cut it out for her. Read more about using freezer paper for cutting felt in my article 6 ways on how to cut felt. Olivia glued the dragon’s pieces to the back part of the finger puppet body before sewing a running stitch to join the body parts.

DIY Finger puppets made by your kids are ready to play with! I am sure yours turned adorable! Enjoy the playing time :)

Thank you for creating with me! More kids crafts coming soon.

Be sure to visit more on this website for free embroidery and sewing tips & tricks to help you out as you stitch my patterns. For free felt patterns visit my Freebies page.

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Let’s craft together!

XO, Anna