Tie Dye Hand Puppets DIY

This project will tap into the silly side of your creativity!  

Art is Fun!!

What You'll Need:

White DIY Hand Puppets OR White Socks

Tie Dye - I used:

purple, pink, green, red and blue

Rubber Bands

Bags to store the dyed puppets 24 hours

Pom Poms

Buttons

Foam craft sheets

Googley Eyes

Yarn

Feathers

Hot Glue gun

I ordered some DIY hand puppets from a craft warehouse a few years ago and I did a project where the students painted them with acrylic paint.  I wasn't thrilled with the process because of all the dry time and also they were stiff when finished.  I wanted to make some puppets again because they are so much fun - so decided to try tie dye.  

I thought of having the students do it themselves and would consider doing it that way with older students and a small group, but you have to leave the tie dye for 24 hours to set the dye and then they really need to be rinsed well and dry.  Pretty much a 3 day process unless you have a washer and dryer on site, which I don't.  Decided to dye them myself so the students can just create their puppets.

Folded my puppets from the bottom up in a zigzag pattern and rubber banded them - then just used the tie dye I had on hand to make several different colors.

I think it will be fun for the students to choose their puppet and decide what it wants to be : )

Mine wanted to be a Horse of Course!

I'm going to have all the materials available and just let them experiment.  I'm also going to show them several examples of puppets so they see all of the possibilities.

The Mane is created by using about 5 yards of yarn and folding it over and over until it is about 12" long.  Then tie a knot in the middle.  Glue the knot on the puppet and trim to desired length. 

The front part of the mane it made by tying the knot at the top of the layers of yarn and glueing the knot between the ears.

If you need a pattern for the ears and eyelashes see jpeg below:

The Ears are basically two triangles.

Below are a few examples to get them thinking about how to make their own puppet.

Because of the tie dye I think they'll really get colorful and imaginative with theirs.

Can't wait to see what they come up with!

 Some Crazy Critters