Create Your Own Puppet Show

Do you love to spend hours on end drawing, sculpting, and imagining? Or maybe you think art is just okay, and you're excited to get to the performance part of the puppet show? Never fear--there are many different ways to create shoebox puppet theaters. I've offered a range of options below. Some are pretty quick and easy, while others require more effort and creativity.

Options 1 & 2

I'm listing these two together because they're quite similar. For both of these options, you will print out one of the templates I have provided on cardstock, cut out the images of my puppets, and glue them together to create your own puppets. You can also print out images of my backdrops to use as your backdrops. The difference between the two templates is that one is full-color, so all you have to do is cut and paste. The other template has black and white versions of the same images, so you can print them and then color them in yourself before putting them together.

Materials:

Template set of your choice, printed on cardstock
Scissors
Glue
5 thin, stick-like objects. These could be popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, barbecue skewers, chopsticks from the last time you got Chinese takeout? The thinner and more rigid the better.
Scotch tape

Shoebox
3 flat pieces of cardboard, about 12" x 12" each (these could be cut from boxes being recycled)
2 paper clips
A light, flowy scarf or piece of fabric for your curtains. It should be about 2 ft. long and at least 8" wide, but the dimensions are flexible and depend on your shoebox size.

Crayons, colored pencils, or markers (if you are using the black and white template)
A boxcutter/X-Acto knife (to be used briefly, and only by an adult)

Step 1:

Print out the template set of your choice.

The Pincoya's Daughter Color Templates

Full-Color Templates

This is the quickest option--just print, cut, and paste. However, these use a lot of color ink, which can be expensive! Check with whoever is in charge of your printer first before printing these.

The Pincoya's Daughter Black and White Templates

Black and White Templates

These give you some structure, while also leaving room for creativity. I was able to make the puppet images pretty similar to what you would find in a coloring book, but it was much harder with the soft, swirly backgrounds. They look a little strange in black and white, but they could still make a good base to build on.

Color in the templates before moving on to step 2.

Step 2:

Cut out the front and back of your first puppet.

Step 3:

Tape one of your thin, stick-like objects to the inside of your front puppet piece, so that most of it is sticking up above the puppet.

Step 4:

Coat the inside of the back piece of the same puppet with glue. Really try to get all the edges.

Step 5:

Press the front and back pieces together like a sandwich, with your stick in the middle. If you have a thicker stick like my chopstick, the sides may not want to stay together. If that's the case, you can reinforce some of the edges with scotch tape.

Once you've repeated this process for all of your puppets, it's time to work on the shoebox and backdrops.

Step 6:

Measure your shoebox. Shoeboxes come in many different sizes, and you need to figure out how big yours is before you put together the backdrops. Mine is quite narrow--only 6 inches. That means I'll have to cut down my backdrops a little.

Step 7:

Take one of your flat pieces of cardboard, and see if the long side fits inside the shoebox. Mine fits perfectly. If yours is too long to fit (just on the long side, don't worry about the short side), cut it down so it does fit.

Step 8:

Take your first backdrop piece, and see if the picture will fit inside your shoebox completely. If not, choose the part you want to keep that will fit and cut it down. So, since my shoebox is only 6 inches on the short side, I'll measure a 6-inch section of my backdrop. The picture is 7 inches tall, so I'll cut one inch off the bottom.

Step 9:

Now, I'll glue my cut backdrop image to the bottom of my piece of cardboard. There should be some cardboard sticking up above the picture, but none below.

After you've done the same thing to all three of your backdrop pieces, it's time to find your blade-wielding adult. You're going to make two openings in your shoebox--one for the puppets, and one for the backdrops.

Step 10:

First, let's make the opening for the backdrops. That should be a slit along the top of the box at the very back. It only needs to be wide enough to fit your cardboard backdrops. Now, you can slide your backdrops in through the slot, and the cardboard sticking up above the box works as a handle.

Step 11:

Now, we'll make the opening for the puppets. This should be further forward. It may need to be a little thicker, and it should go across the top of the box and down the side that matches up with the ocean on the beach backdrop. After making these cuts, you may need to reinforce your box with some tape.

Step 12:

Get your curtain fabric and paper clips. Drape the fabric across the top of your theater, so that it hangs down equally on both sides. Bunch it toward the front so it doesn't block the opening for the puppets. Secure with paperclips about an inch in from each of the top front corners of the box.

Step 13:

Just kidding! There is no step 13! Your theater is complete, and you're ready to rehearse. Great job!!

Option 3

You don’t have to use my templates to use the same structure as Options 1 & 2. You can draw your own puppets and backgrounds on blank cardstock, and then put them together using the same process. You could also paint them on watercolor paper.

Option 4

If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can attempt to make puppets out of something other than cardstock. What’s your favorite medium to work with? Clay? Papier-mâché? I love fiber arts, so I made my puppets and backdrops by needle felting and sewing. It took a long time, and you’re less likely to have these materials around the house. But it's very satisfying to really give your imagination free reign and see if you can bring your vision to fruition!

The Pincoya's Daughter: Script

The Script

Once you’ve got your puppets and theater all set up, you should practice your show a few times before performing or recording it. It can be tricky to keep track of everything! You can decide whether you’d like to use my script or just tell the story in your own words. You could also ask someone else to read the words while you act them out with your puppets.

Recording Your Video

The nice thing about making a video is that you can start it and stop it as many times as you like, and then edit the clips together later! When I recorded my video, my setup looked like this:

I had the script up on half of the screen and my computer’s camera on the other half. This way, I was able to read my lines and see what was being recorded at the same time. To fill the frame with the puppet show, the computer had to be very close to the theater, and I had to put the theater on top of several books to make the angle work correctly.

I stopped and started my video so many times! This allowed me to fix mistakes and quickly change backdrops. When I had finished recording, I edited all of my clips together using the Windows Video Editor App.

If you’d rather not worry about editing your video, you can just record your performance straight through. You could also ask someone else to film it instead of using my computer setup.

As you can see, you have a lot of options to choose from for every step of this project. That’s exciting to me, because it means everyone will end up with their own unique version of the same story. Remember, you’re welcome to submit your completed videos or photos of your projects to me, and I’ll put them up in a gallery on this website. I’d also love it if you would fill out my feedback survey to help me create more programs like this in the future. Thanks so much for participating, and I hope you had a great time!

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