Hand puppets are an easy way to have fun with kids with nothing more than your fingers plus a sock, a glove, or a bag. All it takes is some simple materials and a little know-how. Here are all the basics you need to know to get started making hand puppets and bringing them to life.

Types of Hand Puppets

There are several major types of hand puppets.

Finger puppets are probably the simplest type of hand puppet. In one type of finger puppet, the puppeteer’s fingers serve as the puppet’s legs, walking like in the famous Yellow Pages ad. A face can be painted on the back of the hand, or a head made of paper or another material can be fastened on with a rubber band. Finger puppets of this type are good for depicting walking, running, leaping, dancing, and similar movements. They are not as good for depicting bodily or facial movements.

The phrase finger puppets can also refer to very small puppets worn like caps on the fingers. This type of finger puppet can make movements affecting the puppet’s entire body, but cannot distinguish between head, facial, bodily, arm, and leg movements.

Glove puppets or fist puppets are another common type of hand puppet. Glove puppets are made by inserting the puppeteer’s hand into a glove or piece of cloth or paper that serves as the puppet’s body. A hollow head is attached to the glove. The puppeteer inserts a thumb into one of the puppet’s arms, then puts one or two fingers into the other arm, and places the remaining fingers into the head. Glove puppets can gesture and pick things up and are good for depicting hand movements and facial movements associated with dialogue. They usually have no legs or feet, so they are not as good as finger puppets at depicting walking and similar actions.

Muppets are a unique type of hand puppet designed by Jim Henson for the TV show Sesame Street. A Muppet is a two-handed hand puppet with a wide mouth and big bulging eyes. There are a variety of methods of operating Muppets that have developed over the years. In the most basic design, one hand inserts into the head, with the fingers forming the Muppet’s face to control facial expressions, and the thumb forming the jaw to manipulate mouth movements. The other hand is concealed in a glove and controls the Muppet’s body or arms. Muppets can make a wider range of facial expressions, mouth movements, and gestures than most hand puppets.

Making Your Puppets

Basic hand puppets are very easy to make, even for children. Of course professional hand puppets like Muppets can get much fancier.

Materials for the main part of the puppet can be as simple as socks, handkerchiefs, or paper bags. Hair can be made from yarn or string or paper strips. Facial features like eyes and mouths can be drawn or made of decorated paper, felt, or plastic. Clothes and accessories can also be added.

The mouth of a hand puppet may be merely decorative and immobile. It can also be a distinct pocket where the thumb is inserted to simulate the jaw, as frequently seen in sock puppets.

Setting Up Your Stage

Hand puppets can be held in open view without a formal stage. To enhance the sense of realism, you can add a stage that conceals part of the puppeteer’s body from view and provides backdrop. A draped table or chair can serve the purpose, or you can construct a stand with curtains.

Your audience, usually 10 years old or younger, will normally be seated on the floor or on chairs, well below the level of your stage. This means they will be looking up at the puppets, and the puppets will be looking down at them. Bear this in mind when constructing the height of your stage and when acting out your play.

Making Your Puppets Move

To make your puppets’ movements more realistic and dramatic, there are a number of puppet stagecraft principles you can follow:

• To keep the audience’s eyes and ears focused, at any given time, only the puppet or puppets that are the center of action or dialogue should move. Other puppets should remain still until it is their turn to talk or move. Usually this means only one puppet will be moving, with certain exceptions where multiple puppets participate in an action, such as shaking hands, dancing, or fighting.
• Puppets that are the center of action should move continuously to maintain audience interest.
• For a dramatic entrance, bring your puppet forward in a series of several hops instead of just bobbing up and down.
• To give puppets a more realistic walking pattern, twist slightly side to side with a slight vertical bob, instead of just bobbing up and down. Be sure to remain vertical instead of tilting forward. To run, speed up the twist and exaggerate the bob.
• To establish eye contact between your puppet and an audience seated below stage level, tilt your puppet slightly down when it is moving or speaking.
• Don’t let your puppet sink below audience eye level, which can often happen when your arm gets tired. To avoid this, position yourself at the right height and use a comfortably supported grip.
• Engage the puppet’s whole body in movement. Move the puppet’s head, face, body, and arms.
• For a dramatic exit, turn the puppet towards you, rise up and down a couple times, and then bring it towards you and down.

Making Your Puppets Talk

When making puppets talk, you can make their mouth movements more realistic by following a few pointers:

• Make your puppet’s mouth move by lowering its jaw instead of lifting your fingers.
• Open and close your puppet’s mouth in a smooth rhythm instead of biting your words shut.
• To time your puppet’s lip synching, generally, open its mouth once per syllable. However, when a puppet is talking too rapidly for this to be practical, emphasize getting the first and last syllables synched, and do your best with the intervening syllables. When a puppet is talking slowly, emphasize matching the mouth movements to the sounds being made, such as making a rounded mouth for an “O.”

A great hand puppet show with Louis Armstrong’s “A Wonderful World”

Worthy Resources

Puppeteers of America
National Puppetry Festival
UNion Internationale de la MArionnette

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