Repurposing plastic spoons and forks into puppets is a perfect party craft! Just wash up the utensils after eating and let kids transform them into puppets of their favorite Dr. Seuss characters.
What you’ll need:
- white plastic spoons and forks
- scraps of paper, cardboard from the recycling bin
- small plastic lids, bottle caps and other small interesting pieces of plastic from the recycling bin
- bits of yarn, ribbon, and fabric
- colored tapes (optional)
- fluffy chenille stems (optional)
- permanent markers
- scissors, glue and tape
- books by Dr. Seuss
Directions:
Kids will quickly get the idea of how to create a cast of Dr. Seuss characters from plastic silverware if you show them an example of a finished puppet. Create a quick Thing 1 by drawing a face on the back of a spoon with a permanent marker. Glue some bits of blue yarn around the bowl rim of the spoon and wrap the handle in red tape. Cut a small circle of white paper, write a number “1” on it and tape it to the puppet. Twist a fluffy red chenille stem around the spoon to create arms and give your puppet means to hold small props if you wish.
Then, with books by Dr. Seuss open for inspiration, have kids make their own puppets! Have them draw faces on the backs of clean plastic spoons or forks using a permanent marker. Then kids can draw and cut out hats, hair, horns and other accessories from scraps of paper, make bows and clothes from ribbons and fabric, and even add torsos and limbs using additional flatware, pieces of plastic from the recycling bin or chenille stems. Give them plenty of time to assemble and glue their creations.
While glue is drying, turn kids’ attention back Dr. Seuss’s books. Read aloud or have them read together so that later they can retell the story with a puppet show!