AKA making puppets on a budget, AKA making puppets for free (or cheap)

In this day and age, we’re all conscious of the amount of crap we produce that can’t be reused, and ends up in the local town dump. Making puppets seems like an addition on that waste, with foam, plastic and all sorts of other things being needed to make something that may, in the end, be put in the trash (that’s another topic for another day).

Is it possible to make puppets out of only recycled materials? Of course! There may be some things that you’ll simply have to buy (like glue), but practically everything can be reused.

Before getting into an easy example/tutorial, let’s discuss a little more on what kinds of things you can do. 

Sick of those newspapers or toilet rolls piling up? Toilet rolls make perfect arms and necks for glove puppets (a particular favourite method of making glove puppets with kids in a number of my books from the 70s), and newspapers can be recycled for papier mache heads. Likewise, you could use the papers and make thick recycled paper, which can be used for shadow puppets. Here’s a video tutorial of how to make a table-top puppet using recycled materials. 

Milk cartons and plastic bottles are another great home product; you could insert a rod into the bottle neck and then decorate them to make great marottes (simple rod puppets). Cereal boxes can be used easily for toy theatres, a type of miniature rod/paper puppets - how to make a toy theatre is presented here. It uses mostly recycled materials!

The balls inside deodorant sticks can be recycled to make great puppet eyes (in fact I know of people who go out of their way to collect them), clothes (ie. socks!) can be recycled for puppet costumes or puppets themselves. Another idea is to take natural objects (ie. pinecones, branches, etc) and to find some new use for them.

The big thing is that recycled puppets should be looked at like object theatre or found puppetry; that is, you should try to avoid recreating traditional-looking puppets. Use the object’s qualities to decide how best to reuse it.

One other thing: puppet makers are almost obsessive compulsive collectors. We save every useable scrap of foam, fleece, and other materials. By doing this, we not only reduce the amount of waste we produce, but also save money on materials in the long run. Extending this: we stock up on materials when they are on sale, keep and collect items that don’t have an immediate use but do inspire ideas, and dive into op shops, garage sales and scour trash collections on the side of the road. (A great example of using trash-collected objects, like foam, etc, is here) There are some great tutorials on the net [link to be added] on making puppets using recycled materials.

And this is how we get to my tutorial… I recently found a great toy at a collectables shop for $AUD 5. I saw it and immediately knew I could recycle it into a really simple puppet. (Yeah I know, I have a thing for recycled toy puppets) Although the following instructions are specific to the type of toy I bought, you can use this as an example and basic guide to making your own from old toys.

Materials and tools

• One old toy - I had a stuffed octopus
• A pair of scissors
• Some thread to match the colour of the toy; try and recycle offcuts of thread if you can
• Sewing needle
• A black glove

Step One: Assess the toy

This is my toy (all pics are clickable for larger viewing):

Notice how there is a seam at the bottom of the puppet. The idea is instead of hacking the toy to bits in places, to use the way the toy is sewn together to make the necessary changes. The great thing about this octopus is that the bottom of the body makes it perfect for a glove puppet, with the head of the octopus housing the hand, and the octopus legs can be manipulated by the puppeteer’s fingers. Assessing the toy really means trying to look past what it is and figuring out what it can be.

Step Two: Make the opening

Carefully cutting the thread at the bottom of the octopus, I then removed it with a pin.

On removing this thread, I discovered the opening to be too small to fit my hand comfortably inside. Using a scalpel I widened the opening, first by making a straight cut either end of the opening (the seam was sewn in a straight line). This still wasn’t quite right, so I cut the material in a curve at either end of the opening, until the opening was large enough for my hand, but also a snug fit.

It’s important not to cut the material off! You can use all of the material to your benefit in the next step. 

Also note that I’ve removed some of the stuffing; only within the bottom of the octopus’ body, but not from inside the legs or the head itself.

Step Three:

Folding the extra material inside the body of the puppet, I pinned it in place, turning the extra fabric into a seam allowance. I then got some thread of matching colour to the toy, and sewed the edge of the opening. I used a backstitch for strong stitching. 

Do remember to keep the stuffing that you took out from the toy - you can reuse it for stuffing puppet arms and so forth.

Step Four: Have a play

To play with this puppet, insert your hand inside (oh, what about that glove listed above? Read this first, and then you’ll see… ). I found this the most comfortable: my thumb inserted into the right most tentacle at the front of the toy (I’m left handed); my index finger into the head of the octopus, between the eyes; my third finger into the tentacle second from the right; my fourth finger in the tentacle second from the left; and my pinky in the tentacle at the left. By doing this, I can control movement in the front four tentacles, as well as the head. Flexing the index finger makes the toy’s head move up and down in a nodding fashion.

Here’s a video of how the recycled toy puppet turns out (more text and instructions below the video player):

Step Five: Adding more movement

Omigod! Did you see that? A tongue!

Yeah, the great thing about making puppets is to try and do things that the audience doesn’t expect. Instead of settling for some simple movements, I took advantage of the way the toy was sewn together (there’s that assessing thing again) at the eyes and nose. In the first photo above, you can see how the nose is sewn horizontally across the face. I simply used the same method as given above - undid the seam, then sewed a hem at the opening - and voila! Now there’s a mouth. (Ok, yeah, octopi have mouths under the tentacles… but this is a puppet!)

By adding this hole, I can use my index finger - that’s inside the head anyway - to act as a tongue, pushing through the mouth opening. By wearing a black glove, and inserting some scrap black material into the opening, I make the puppet appear dark inside the mouth (instead of seeing the white stuffing). You could make a simple finger puppet tube out of red fleece and wear it on the index finger. (I just pinned a piece of red fleece to the finger of the glove)

On looking at the video, one other thing comes to mind: I should have painted the eyes on the octopus a lighter colour, so they would appear more clearly against the darker green of the toy. That would have made all the difference!

Step Six: Play again!

… How easy was that? This little puppet took me about 1 hour to make, as I figured out what I was doing as I was going along. Ok, so now you’re thinking - but I don’t have an octopus toy? How can I possibly recreate this at home? No worries! 

The trick is to find a toy that can be creatively and simply be recycled. It should be able to fit your hand. It is a good idea - thought not necessary - to have limbs or parts that can be manipulated. From there, assess the seams and construction of the toy, and think about how you can resew areas to allow for openings or rods. Use paint or other materials to add and enhance the puppet where necessary. But most of all: have fun!

Want more? Help build a puppet!