Mini Pencil Puppet Theater

Making tiny puppets is a fantastic craft project for kids of all ages! You can easily make them (and a tiny theater too) with a few simple materials.

Directions

Break the side seam of the cereal box and open it flat.

Paint the box however your child would like!

Cut a square opening in both the front and back of the box (making sure both squares are the same size for the stage). Remove the squares, then tape the box closed again.

Using colorful paper, draw curtains and decorate them with stickers.

Tape the curtains over one of the square openings of the cereal box. Congratulations, your theater is finished!

Now you can make your child's puppet! Once you've printed out his photo, cut out the face. Set the face aside.

Have your child draw his body and an outfit on colored paper to go with his cut-out face. Cut out the body and tape his face and body together.

Tape your child's figure to a pencil.

Now you are finished and your child is ready to put on a puppet show! Play some music, write a script and put on a performance for your friends and family.

Caroline Gravino Urdaneta, a PBS Parents resident crafter, is a designer of creative family projects, tinkering painter and mother of four children. She writes about project ideas for the whole family and how to encourage creativity in kids on the popular blog, Salsa Pie.