Origami-style finger-puppets

Teachers often say that it’s really difficult to make puppets with their learners.  They find this especially hard with infants and the lower end of primary.  So here’s how to make a very simple dog puppet from one piece of paper! (And here you’ll find more ideas for making simple Origami finger puppets.)

In fact, it’s one of the simplest puppets you can make (almost as simple as drawing a face on your hand – see previous post).  Because of this, I’ve found that students are really motivated to make one.  There’s a high rate of success when making something that has an almost guaranteed positive outcome!  They love colouring it in and making it their own, so it has its artistic side.  Not only that, students are also working on their fine motor skills when cutting and colouring.

We always find that when students pick up a puppet – especially one they’ve made themselves – they have the ability to ‘hide’ behind it.  They lose their inhibitions and usually pronounce words better – doing a ‘silly’ voice often helps!  In the case of this dog puppet, it can be something as simple as saying ‘Woof, woof!’

Here’s the video on how to make a very simple dog puppet – hope you all have fun making one!