DIY Halloween Pipe Cleaner Puppets

Craft adorable pipe cleaner puppets for Halloween using simple materials like wine corks and cardboard.

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This tutorial shows you how to create whimsical puppets from pipe cleaners, wine corks, and cereal boxes. Kids can color their own characters and then assemble them with movable limbs and felt hands. The cork feet add weight for better balance.

Directions

Slice wine corks in half to form the shoes. For tinier shoes, cut them into quarters. Use the tip of your scissors to poke a hole in the top of each cork piece. Apply paint and allow them to dry completely.

Print the character template onto plain paper. Let children decorate the image with crayons, markers, or any coloring supplies you have.

After coloring, glue the paper character onto a piece of cereal box cardboard for stiffness, then cut it out. Save the hand shapes for later. Also cut a second cardboard shape identical to the character's outline—this will be the plain back piece that conceals the puppet's interior.

Fold one pipe cleaner in half and snip it to create two leg pieces. Use a separate pipe cleaner for the arms. Place the plain cardboard back shape with its inner side facing up. Arrange the leg and arm pipe cleaners on it, then glue them in place. Put the colored front shape on top, right side up, and press together to secure.

From felt, cut four hand shapes using the template. Sandwich each end of the arm pipe cleaner between two felt hands and hot glue them together. Allow the glue to set. Then insert the ends of the leg pipe cleaners into the holes of the painted cork halves.

Your pipe cleaner puppet is finished! You and your children can craft and embellish various shoes to suit big or small characters and to improve stability.