School is out and summer is officially here! I know that I always had a love/hate relationship with summer break when my daughter was growing up. I loved having the opportunity to spend more quality time with her, but it could also be a challenge to keep her busy while I had my own commitments to take care of. Over time I learned the best way to keep a balance that worked for both of us: preparation, preparation, preparation! Parents, arm yourselves with an arsenal of fun toys and activities for the kids this summer. If you put in the time to prepare, you will thank yourself for it! Today I am sharing these woodland animal stick puppets that are easy and safe for kids of all ages to make. Create tons of different characters to put on a whole array of puppet shows and imaginative stories. The best part is that making these stick puppets is a fun activity in itself! 

Our crafter Jessica went to town making these cuties! Each creature is made using a variety of Fiskars punches. Because these stick puppets do not require scissors, they are a safe craft project for younger kids. Jessica created an owl, bunny, beaver, chipmunk, raccoon, bear, mouse, and fox. You can also make plenty of other animals with these punches! Each animal has the same foundation for the body, a 3.5 x 2.5 inch oval. After cutting out bodies from various colors of card stock and pretty metallic paper, you can use a combination of petal punches, circle punches, and heart punches to create the other details of each animal. Each set of eyes comes from the 1/4-inch circle punch and each set of ears comes from different sizes of the petal punches. The petal punches were also great for tails, arms, and the details around the beaver’s and racoon’s eyes. We used the scalloped border punch to create the owl’s feathered chest, and then used marker to color in the owl’s nose, the beaver’s and fox’s tails, and the chipmunk’s stripes. Once you finish your animals, you simply have to use hot glue to attach them to dowels or skewers to turn them into fantastic DIY stick puppets!

If you are interested in more woodland animal projects, head to our woodland animal felt puppets and our customizable woodland bookmarks. Check out our felt fishing game for another great summer activity for kids and always feel free write in to hello@liagriffith.com with suggestions for projects and printables! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay updated on all of our projects. Enjoy! ~ Lia  

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