Updated 14 Feb, 2020.  Originally published 28 Feb, 2015.

Purim is coming soon (Thursday — well, Wednesday evening, really).  It’s traditional at Purim to act out the story of Esther.  This might be in the form of an actual skit, or it might be something like a puppet show.  With this in mind, I thought it would be fun to talk about puppets. I’ll share an easy finger puppets DIY (my kids made these), and share some links for other types of puppets you could make.

Easy Finger Puppets DIY {Tutorial}

I thought I’d first read about this general idea in a Kathy Ross craft book for kids, but I can’t seem to find that reference now.  (I did, however, find a note of her suggesting marker lids or lipstick tube lids as bases for finger puppets — also a great idea!  Glue stick lids would probably work fairly well, too.  And we have plenty of those.  But I digress…)

The idea behind these finger puppets is to start with coin rolls, and decorate them.  If you have some on hand, of course use whatever you have.  If you’re going to buy some specifically for this project, a whole bag of just dime rolls will work especially well because they’re the smallest around.

A couple other tips: 1) You can trim these a little shorter if you need to, for smaller fingers.  2) My children noted that the tubes “fit” them better if they put their fingers into the “closed” end rather than the end you’re meant to fill them from.

Once you have your coin rolls, you can decorate them however you like.  We wrapped ours in plain white paper (glued on with glue stick) and then the kids just decorated them with markers.  You could also paint them, and/or glue on three-dimensional embellishments.

Here are our Esther, Haman, and King Ahasuerus:

Other DIY Finger Puppets

• Use the fingers from an old glove — either the winter outerwear variety or the rubber cleaning variety — as the base for finger puppets.  (Surprisingly, I couldn’t find a tutorial online that used this method!)  [UPDATE: I found a couple!  Here’s an idea for a finger puppet kit, and an example of rubber glove finger puppets.)
• felt finger puppets — This tutorial from The Idea Room centers around farm animals, but is highly adaptable.
• Rainbow Loom zebra finger puppet — video tutorial
• finger puppet gloves — basic instructions (but no detailed tutorial) for a puppet glove with interchangeable puppets

DIY Hand Puppets (Includes DIY Sock Puppets)

• basic hand puppet pattern
• felt animal hand puppets — tutorial could be adapted for people puppets
• sock puppets
• professional-style puppets — This tutorial follows along with a ($25) purchased pattern.
• paper bag puppets
• paper bag puppet printables — printable parts/pieces for various characters

DIY Shadow Puppets (and Other Miscellaneous Puppets)

• shadow puppets — tutorial
• shadow puppet theater — instructions from the same writer as the above shadow puppet tutorial
• popsicle stick puppets
• stick puppets — video tutorial
• preschoolers’ stick puppets
• “talking” stick puppets
• (relatively) easy marionette
• professional-style marionette