So a couple of months ago, I was sitting behind this little boy at church and he pulled out these cute little hand puppets with interchangeable parts (like a Potato Head) and they kept him entertained QUIETLY all through church! At the end of the church service, I pulled out a scratch piece of paper and frantically started drawing all the little parts that I could remember. I then came home and drew up some puppets of my own. My sisters came over the next day and we spent the afternoon making these puppets with all their many different parts and the rest is history . . . I LOVE how they turned out and my kids (and husband!) have had tons of fun with them. We take them to church, to the doctor’s office, in the car- anywhere I need the kids to hold still and sit quietly for a little while. The best thing is all the parts can easily be stored in a Ziploc bag and thrown in your purse. Want to make some? Well, you are in luck because we are sharing all our secrets (and our patterns!)!
Seriously, aren’t they so cute?
So first you will want to cut out all your monster body shapes (the pattern is at the end of the post). You will want to cut out two body shapes for each monster and sew/glue the two shapes together so that you can stick your hand in them (like a puppet . . . obviously). We used flannel material and sewed the bodies of our monsters, but if I were to make these again, I would used felt and maybe even hot glue the edges (either way will work great). You can use any colors you want and make as many as you want (I have 2 kids and made four puppets so that they could each have two puppets). The velcro that I bought was sticky on the back, but even we ended up hot gluing the velcro onto the puppet to enforce it even more. I have been using mine for almost a year and have not had any problems with the velcro coming off.
We made about 6 shapes for each category. All of the parts were made with felt. We just kind of made them up as we went along . . . you will probably think of more fun things to make as you make your own!
Since making these, I think that it would be fun to add lots of different animal noses (besides just the pig nose!).
Onto the printable templates . . . for now, I just uploaded them as a JPG file . . . I am not sure how else to do it (besides uploading them to Scribd, but then some people would have to pay for the files and I want them to be free for everyone). So, the best thing would be to copy each image, then paste into a blank Word document. Resize the image so that it fills the entire 8 1/2 x 11″ page (it may be a little fuzzy, but you just need it so that you can cut it out and trace the pattern, so fuzzy is okay!) and print it out. From there, cut out all the shapes and trace them onto your felt. Cut out the shapes, glue them together as needed (such as the eyes and mouths), attach velcro to the back of all the shapes, and you are good to go! I think that covers everything, but if you have ANY questions, feel free to ask!
As you make your own and come up with fun new accessories, we would love to see them!! Please send us pictures and we will add them to our post so that others can see your great ideas! The possibilities with these puppets are endless!
Please, please, please only use these for your personal use. Don’t try and sell them or do something dishonest like that- it’s not nice. But we know that you are all nice people.
Make sure that you “Join the Sisterhood” and become a follower of this site through our Google Friend Connect or Facebook page! That way you won’t miss a thing!
I love this idea! My daughter Charlotte would love to make these with me and I’m sure all my kids would love to play with them. Love the idea of the interchangeable hand, hats, hair, eyes etc. I’m definitely going to try this.
How fun! My girls are going to LOVE helping me make these for my boys. Maybe I’ll be able to sit through a Sacrament Meeting. Cross your fingers for me
Wow- so cute! And I have to give you a HUGE thank you too! My son never sits still in church and I’ve been looking for things to keep him entertained. I’m going to be making these puppets soon!
Gosh, these are sooo darn cute. I want to make a set for my classroom friends to use and them do their own puppet shows. Will be really cute! Thannk you for your creativity & generosity!
Aw, these are so cute! What a clever idea. My kids would love these for sure! Thanks for linking this up @ Show & Share! You gals are so great to support my little blog!
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
I just found your site while looking for a fun monster project for my 2 year old and 1 year old. Love it! I’m actually the youngest of 6 girls, no boys! It’s so fun to see another family like mine.
@ CrazyHomemadeMom- of course! Thank you so much for asking! We don’t mine if you make them as gifts . . . in fact, we think that they would be an awesome gift! Have a great holiday season!
May I have your permission to share your design on a public library wiki about storytimes? I used commercially produced puppets like these today during a program, but I would like to promote your do-it-yourself design also. It would just be link-back to your site.
Santa’s little elves just finished making these for my daughters for Christmas. I am thrilled with how they turned out! Thank you so much for the post. I’m hoping these will be a great distraction on our Christmas travels. How do you store yours? Zip top bags? Do you put them all in the same bag? or do you have a separate bag for hands/eyes/etc?
I have all of mine stored in a basket together, but you could do it however you want! So glad they turned out for you! Thanks for stopping by! -The Six Sisters
These are so adorable! We’re traveling this weekend and I hope I can find time to make these before I go. It would be great entertainment for my little guy. Thanks for sharing!
.%20SixSistersStuff.com%20 "Pin It")
But we know that you are all nice people. 
I love this idea! My daughter Charlotte would love to make these with me and I’m sure all my kids would love to play with them. Love the idea of the interchangeable hand, hats, hair, eyes etc. I’m definitely going to try this.
Ellen
http://everydaysisters.blogspot.com
So cute! Definitely doing these!
What an awesome idea!! I’m going to make some of these right away. Brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing!
-Janelle
homemadethisandthat.blogspot.com
I just LOVE these!!! They will keep the littlies entertained for ages. Thanks SO much for sharing.
These are so fun! I love them. What a fun thing to do for your littles:>
Oh my goodness! So wonderful! I work with Special Ed. kiddos, and this would be PERFECT. Really great! Thanks for sharing!
How fun! My girls are going to LOVE helping me make these for my boys. Maybe I’ll be able to sit through a Sacrament Meeting. Cross your fingers for me
HOORAY! HOORAY!! HOORAY!!!!!! I CAN’T wait to make these! Thanks for posting this, Sugar Booger! I love you!
Wow- so cute! And I have to give you a HUGE thank you too! My son never sits still in church and I’ve been looking for things to keep him entertained. I’m going to be making these puppets soon!
http://growcreative.blogspot.com
Camille- you are amazing! LOVE this idea. I am not crafty AT ALL, but I think I could handle this.
I have so much felt left from felt food…my daughter would LOVE these! Thanks!
http://circusberry.blogspot.com/
Cute idea!
Gosh, these are sooo darn cute. I want to make a set for my classroom friends to use and them do their own puppet shows. Will be really cute!
Thannk you for your creativity & generosity!
What a great tutorial. Thank you for sharing it…and the pattern makes it so much easier. We plan to make this this weekend.
Thanks for the patterns and the great tutorial. What a cute idea.
Aw, these are so cute! What a clever idea. My kids would love these for sure! Thanks for linking this up @ Show & Share! You gals are so great to support my little blog!
Just stopping by to let you know that I have featured your project on Fun Family Crafts today! You can see it here
http://funfamilycrafts.com/monster-puppets/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them
If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
I definitely pinned this post- soooo cute!
I just found your site while looking for a fun monster project for my 2 year old and 1 year old. Love it! I’m actually the youngest of 6 girls, no boys! It’s so fun to see another family like mine.
Can I make these to give my nieces and nephews for Christmas as a quiet church activity. I love them.
@ CrazyHomemadeMom- of course! Thank you so much for asking! We don’t mine if you make them as gifts . . . in fact, we think that they would be an awesome gift! Have a great holiday season!
Just wondering, did you use iron on interfacing at all to reinforce the parts or did you feel like they held up well enough without?
May I have your permission to share your design on a public library wiki about storytimes? I used commercially produced puppets like these today during a program, but I would like to promote your do-it-yourself design also. It would just be link-back to your site.
For sure! Thank you so much for asking!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Love this! I am teaching an after school puppet class at my elementary school- we are so making these!!!
Love this! I am teaching an after school puppet class at my elementary school- we are so making these!!!
My daughter want s Monster Party for her 3rd birthday, this would be a great project for the kids to do at the party and take home!!
so Cute!!
I just love this!! Thank you for the templates and inspiration!
Santa’s little elves just finished making these for my daughters for Christmas. I am thrilled with how they turned out! Thank you so much for the post. I’m hoping these will be a great distraction on our Christmas travels. How do you store yours? Zip top bags? Do you put them all in the same bag? or do you have a separate bag for hands/eyes/etc?
I have all of mine stored in a basket together, but you could do it however you want! So glad they turned out for you! Thanks for stopping by! -The Six Sisters
These are so adorable! We’re traveling this weekend and I hope I can find time to make these before I go. It would be great entertainment for my little guy. Thanks for sharing!
Just found your site and I love it! Love these monsters. I’m sure my almost 4 y/o will LOVE these. Thanks for sharing!
Love the idea. I altered it to make it even quieter and used magnets instead of Velcro… Worked great!
These are too cute! I can’t even wait to p;ay with them let alone my son!!