Homemade Puppet Theater

by Kelly
(Hampshire)

Heres a savvy homemade puppet theater made from an old shoe box and a few straws. Apart from the craft knife part, my children made this all by themselves it was that simple.

What you need
A good size shoe box
straws
colored paper or card
glue
craft knife

Turn the shoe box bottom side up and using a craft knife (this is the grown ups part) cut an opening along the top and both sides of the box leaving about a one inch boarder around the edges. If you find it easier try marking it out before cutting.

Use the knife again to score the bottom edge of the shoe box and fold it back inside the box, this will be your theater floor. Cut a piece of colored card or paper big enough to cover your stage floor then glue it down.

A t this point you can keep it simple and start decorating, or you can remove one of the long edges and both the side edges from the lid. Bend the lid in half length ways and glue or tape it to the top of your theater creating a support for your straws.

Glue your straws around the front and along the top part of the stage until the front part of the shoe box is completely covered, then leave it to dry ready for show time.

While you are waiting why not make some family and friends puppets, simply cut out your family, friends or pets from some unwanted photos (its best to use ones that have a full body view) then glue a stick or straw to the back of them.

The other puppet in the photo is just a simple piece of card rolled up to make a cone shape with tissue paper for hair, some goggle eyes, and wool for a mouth!