Caroline
My daughter is currently obsessed with anything related to role play and pretend play. It has been so fun for me to watch her interact with her toys lately as if they are real life people and hear all the adorable voices she gives each character. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up in two weeks, we decided to make a Leprechaun Stick Puppet Kids Craft. You can use the puppet to enjoy pretend play like my daughter, or to reenact your favorite St. Patrick’s Day Leprechaun book.
Supplies you will need:
- orange cupcake liner
- green, black and yellow cardstock paper
- manila folder or tan cardstock paper
- large wood craft stick
- googly eyes
- crayons
- clear school glue
- tacky glue
Directions:
1. Cut out a circle
Start by cutting a 3-inch circle out of your Manila folder. I drew a circle on the folder for my daughter to cut out.
2. Glue circle onto cupcake liner
Use your clear school glue to glue your circle onto the orange cupcake liner. I love this glue for projects like this (especially for little ones) because it dries clear.
3. Cut out hat pieces and glue onto Leprechaun face
Cut a Leprechaun hat, black trim for the hat and a buckle out of your green, black and yellow cardstock paper. I drew the hat for my daughter on her green paper and she cut it out, and I helped her with the other pieces. Glue the pieces at the top of your Leprechaun face.
4. Glue eyes
Glue your googly eyes onto your Leprechaun.
5. Draw face details
Use your crayons to draw facial features on your Leprechaun: smile, nose, eyebrows and freckles.
6. Glue large craft stick to the back of Leprechaun
Add a generous line oft acky glue onto half of your large craft stick and glue it to the back of your Leprechaun. I find that the tacky glue gives extra strength and durability to the puppet so it’s a must.
Here is my 4-year old’s Leprechaun puppet. She has been having him dance around all afternoon and has been making up adorable songs with him about St. Patrick’s Day and rainbows.
I enjoyed making my own puppet alongside my daughter. Not only was it great bonding time, but it creates a great opportunity for me to sit down with her later to play with our puppets together.
