Hand Puppet Stage Diagram
Hand-puppets are great fun for children at home, especially on rainy or snowy days. In the classroom this project is a wonderful way to encourage the imagination and students' social skills. Making a hand-puppet stage is easy and inexpensive. You may want to make several to represent different locations, seasons or holidays.
Instructions
1. Cover your work surface with two layers of scrap cardboard. Open up a cardboard display board and lay it face down flat on the protected surface. On the center section of the display board, use a ruler or yardstick to measure out your stage area. (See illustration) Draw in a rectangle for the stage area. Using the yardstick or ruler as a guide, cut out the stage area using an X-Acto knife.
2. Flip the display over. You are now ready to decorate your stage. You can paint your stage in any manner. Some ideas are seasonal, holiday, day and night, circus or other theme. You can embellish your stage with ribbons, glitter and stickers. Another great idea is using scrap wallpaper to cover your stage. This is a beautiful and easy way to decorate your puppet stage. Embellish with sateen cording and tassels to make a Victorian-era stage.
3. After decorating, allow stage to dry overnight or for several hours. Next, stand the stage up, folding the ends in to allow it to remain upright. Stand one of the soda bottles up on the inside back of the stage. Rest a pencil on the bottle neck and make a reference mark on each side of the stage. Punch two holes side by side in that spot using the hole punch.
4. Next cut two pieces of fabric to make your curtain. Cut them about 1 1/2 times bigger than you need so you are able to gather the top to make a nice, full curtain. Fold the top of each piece of fabric over 3/4 inch and baste, leaving the ends open. Run a piece of medium-gauge wire through the top and fasten with heavy masking tape over the stage opening as shown in the illustration.
5. To use your stage, stand it up and fold the ends in at an angle. Place a soda bottle on each side of the stage. Cut two 6- to 8-inch pieces of wire or ribbon. (Ribbon looks nicer.) Put the ribbon through one hole, around the neck of the soda bottle, then out the other hole. Tie ribbon in a bow to anchor your stage.
