I thought it might be a good idea to write how long it takes to make each type of puppet, since for beginners it may influence what kinds of puppets you tackle first.

With my simple puppet pattern, it should take you maybe half an hour. But more complex finger puppets, like my ice scream one, took me about 2 or 3 hours - that’s because I’m taking a lot of care with the detail and getting everything looking spot on. Of course, using felt and glue, it would take considerably less time, because those finger puppets are hand sewn. Additionally, paper finger puppets could take you as much as 10 minutes to make!

But… 

This is the time it takes me once I have the pattern all worked out, and I often design or make patterns as I go along. So it doesn’t actually take me that long - it takes longer! I may have spent about 6 hours in total on the ice scream finger puppet, simply because I had to work out how to make the cone, how to do the ice cream balls, and then at the last minute I decided to add a ‘cherry’. 

Additionally, it can take more time if you make an mistakes - and you will! But that’s ok, because that’s part of the learning process.

So in summary: it could take you between 30 minutes to a few hours to make a finger puppet, but it could take several hours longer if you’re making a design from scratch.