Paper plates have to the number 1 item to have in your cupboard this summer for those ‘I’m bored’ moments or the second wet day on the run. They are cheap, last for ages and have endless possibilities………..hopefully you will have tried out some of the ideas in Part 1 and are ready for some more ideas……..
1. Mask
Again this is an obvious idea but has so many possibilities. Even the very young children can draw a basic face and as they get older these can be more sophisticated. You can have wool for hair, comedy ears and even add hats etc. If the children have friends over you can suggest a theme or a film or book which all the masks have to be made from and then use in a play – they may need some help cutting eye holes out.
2. Hand puppets
- Rabbit – this is a really simple but clever one. Cut a small horizontal section from the bottom of 2 plates (approx 2cm) and put to one side. Turn the plates with right sides together so the raised sides are together. Insert the cut off sections in the top and staple all round curved edge. You should now have a rabbit shape which you can put your hand inside.
- Humpty Dumpty – simply cut a section off the bottom – you can also add folded paper legs.
- Octopus or jellyfish – as for Humpty Dumpty but add 8 legs of some strips of paper
- An owl – smaller ears, big eyes and maybe some real feathers
- Cat – make the ears more pointy and add whiskers
- Dog – cut the ear sections off more rounded and add pointing down.
3. Moving mouth puppets
Put 2 plates together on top of each other and staple around half the edge. Then fold one plate forward and the other back. This then provides a slot for the hand and the thumb works the underside. Animals which work well for this are lions, frogs and monkeys!
Have fun and please post any pictures of what you have made!
