Stick Puppet Art Invitation for Toddlers

My three-year-old is really into puppets right now. When his big sister made a puppet for a school project, he wanted to make puppets, too! Knowing his attention span for arts and crafts is about 10 minutes at the most, I put together this quick, low-mess stick puppet art invitation for him.

With simple craft supplies, and no glue involved, this is a fun project for toddlers and preschoolers to work on with just a little help. My little guy loved it and spent quite a while at the table making and playing with his puppets. I call that a successful activity!

Toddler stick puppet art invitation

Stick Puppet Art Invitation Supplies:

jumbo craft sticks
pipe cleaners
colored construction paper, cut into circles or other shapes
crayons or markers
masking tape
eye stickers or wiggly eyes (optional)

Making stick puppets with toddlers

First, decorate the paper faces with crayons or markers. Add eye stickers or self-adhesive googly eyes, if you like. (We’ve been using this roll of eye stickers for a few years.) My little guy had fun scribbling hair, noses, and mouths onto his faces. It’s fun to color the craft sticks, too.

Drawing paper puppet faces

Toddlers don’t have time to wait around for glue to dry – masking tape to the rescue! Tape a craft stick to the back of each paper face.

Stick puppet craft for toddlers

Help your child twist a pipe cleaner around the craft stick to make arms. I cut the pipe cleaners in half and they were plenty long enough for our puppets. Now you’re ready for a puppet show!

Craft stick and pipe cleaner puppets

I love that these stick puppets can go right from the art table to playtime. Henry named his puppets Pinocchio, Pirate Friend, and King. So cute! We had fun singing songs, telling stories, and doing puppet shows with our stick puppets. I put the extra supplies in a plastic bag so we can easily make puppets again when the mood strikes!

Create stick puppets with toddlers