A Very Cool Easter Craft – Pop-up Bunny Puppets

So last week when we were making our Easter Lilies Kaitlyn asked if we could make pop up puppets, actually she pretty much begged.  The results = this Thursday’s craft.  This one was another 2 day craft.  It doesn’t take that long but there is a lot of paint and glue drying time needed.  The most difficult thing with this craft was gathering all the supplies.

You will need:

Paper mache cones – these are difficult to find at this time of year but we found some online through Stockade.  We found the 7″ ones worked best.

Wooden balls or styrofoam balls.  We used wooden but styrofoam would probably have been easier.

Dowel

Socks –  bright coloured adult socks work best

Felt, ribbon, paint, stickers, scissors, and tacky glue

Before beginning an adult needs to cut off the end of the cones.

Cut just enough to fit the piece of dowel.   Get everyone ready for painting.  For us this means the drop sheet is on the table, paint shirts are on and hair is tied back.  You can use simple tempra paints to paint the cones.  We (meaning Mommy) prefers to use these when we can because they are very easy to clean up when (not if) messes occur.  Paint your cones a solid colour.  You may need two coats of paint.  Mommy thought pink bunnies would be best for Easter but Kaitlyn declared that she doesn’t like pink. We couldn’t find orange socks so she settled for red socks with an orange base – an it was perfect for her.

While the kids are painting their cones a parent can glue the doweling onto the balls.  We managed to glue the wooden doweling to the wooden ball with simple tacky glue but you may have to use wood glue.  If you can find balls with holes to push the dowel in it may be easier.  Syrofoam would probably have worked well also but I am not sure how well they would glue together.

We left our cones and our heads to dry overnight.  In the morning it was assembly time.  First the girls decorated their cones with a variety of Easter stickers.  Next they pushed their heads into their socks.  I helped them tie a ribbon around the neck to keep the sock in place.  We then determined how far we wanted the bunny to pop out of his hole and we cut the remaining portion of the sock.  Use the glue to glue the sock to the opening of the cone and let it thoroughly dry.

The final stage is the decoration stage.  The girls added ears, eyes and noses on their bunnies.

 

 

 

 

Very cute pop-up bunnies.  They will work great with the puppet theatre Grampa is making them  for Easter.