Winter Craft : Snowman Puppets!

I'm grateful to have such wonderful friends in the blog world to allow me to take a little bit of a break this month to spend more time with my family during the holidays. Today's post is written and shared by Terri at My Creative Family.  A fun craft to create with the kids, and play with it afterwards!  Terri teaches us how to make snowman finger puppets! So adorable!

Hi, I'm Terri from My Creative Family. In order to give Jamie a much needed break, I'm here to share a fun craft with you, snowman finger puppets.

See those cute little guys [or ladies if you prefer].
They're fun and fuzzy and made entirely from items we had about the house.

Supplies needed:

• Cardboard from an empty cracker or cereal box [you will want to use thin cardboard].
• White craft paint
• Glue
• Cotton balls
• Colored beads [sequins, buttons or googly eyes would also work]
• Scraps of yarn

Start by drawing a snowman shape on your cardboard and cutting it out.
Don't worry about pencil marks. They will soon get covered up.
While you're cutting, you'll also need an additional strip of cardboard [about 4 - 5 inches long].
Paint your snowman shape white.

While your paint is drying a bit, take your cotton balls and start separating them.
Stretch them, unroll them, and get rid of that ball shape!

Next, add glue. Add a lot of glue.
This is the part that gets a little bit sticky and a little bit messy, but it's worth it.
Take all that cotton and press into the glue. 
You want to cover the entire snowman.

Now that your snowman is nice and fuzzy, it's time to embellish! 
We used small beads. But, this is the point where you can be creative and use what you have.
Use sequins, googly eyes, or small bits of paper. Anything would work here!

If you're working with small children and don't really want to use all the small bits to embellish, you can always use dots of paint for your snowman's face.

When gluing on our beads, we made sure to use a lot of glue and to really press down so it would adhere to the cardboard and not just the cotton.

When you're satisfied with your embellishing, take your yarn and make a scarf. 
I used three strips of yarn and tied it around each snowman's neck.
Again, use what you have. Fabric scraps would also make cute scarves.

At this point, it's time to turn them into finger puppets!

Grab that extra strip of cardboard and roll it into a ring. 
Tape it to the bottom of the backside of your snowman.

I found that little fingers have an easier time using these as finger puppets if the ring is close to the bottom.

Use strong tape or several strips if you find that your cardboard wants to unroll [like the stubborn cracker box we had].

Now, go and have fun!
Sing a few rounds of Frosty the Snowman and play with your new finger puppets!

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I'm Terri, married, 30-something, stay-at-home mom to two girls. I still feel like a kid at heart. I love arts & crafts time, picture books and a good cartoon. I want to nurture my girls, teach them, let them discover the world all while guiding them with my sometimes capable, but not always, hands.


Author of My Creative Family.

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