Kids will love playing with these playful Christmas craft stick footprint puppets!
It's that time of year again! Summer said goodbye and the holidays swiftly approached the terminal without any warning, it seems. It's alright by me though, who needs warning for something as magical as Christmas?
To my 4 year old, though, she knows that means Santa is coming. She enjoys other aspects, like Christmas lights, making homemade decorations like this simple reindeer ornament. She also enjoys baking our favorite cookies, but Santa and his elf is where it's at for her. 😉
A few years ago we brought in our Elf on a Shelf. Do you have one? Ours is named Rosie and she has so much fun visiting our house, making mischief and all.
Christmas Craft Stick Footprint Puppets
I thought it would be fun to have a homemade puppet show with Santa and his elf. We love puppet shows in our house and have made many homemade puppets like these footprint stick puppets. I find that they bring out creativity, not only in actually making the puppets but doing the puppet show, in my daughter that is different from other forms of play. She is so empathetic of the character she is playing. I love listening to her!
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Supplies Used:
- Construction Paper
: red, green, black, white - Popsicle Sticks
- Glue
- Scissors
- Googly Eyes
: red, green, black, white
How to make the Santa and his Elf Footprint Puppets
1. The first thing I did was trace my daughter's footprint. I cut this out and used it as a template for the second puppet. My daughter is learning how to trace, so she enjoyed tracing around the template and then cutting it out.
2. The next thing we did is cut out the pieces for the 'accessories': the hat, belt, buckle, etc.
3. After cutting them out we organized them by character and started gluing on the pieces. For young kids, you could cut out the pieces and let them glue. For slightly older kids, this is a great time for them to practice using scissors and gluing on their own.
This craft reminded me of using paper dolls when I was a kid. Did you like those?
4. Once the pieces were glued on, we let them dry (we used white glue, using a glue stick would eliminate this step).
5. The last and final step is to have fun. Per usual, I let my daughter take the reins and we had a fun Christmas puppet show. We made and organized toys, loaded up the sleigh, and delivered presents to little kids. Then, we had a tea party with Barbie and Pinkie Pie. Do your kids always gravitate to something like my daughter does with tea parties?
Crafting with my daughter is fun but it seems like Christmas crafts have a more magical feel to them. If you're looking for more ideas, you might enjoy making a cardboard tube Christmas tree craft made with handprints.
