Fall Leaf Puppets Craft for Kids
Today I welcome Little Lion Mom from instagram to share one of her wonderfully whimiscal crafts with us – combining autumn leaves with recycled toilet paper rolls, to make a set of beautiful Fall Leaf Puppets! A great way to explore fall leaf colors and make a set of different animal puppets depending on what you can find. From firey red fox puppets, to golden lion manes… too cute!
About Little Lion Mom on Instagram
You will find Little Lion Mom on instagram – where you will see a penchant for all things natural and recycable. It is a wonderful Instagram account, packed with the joy of recycled cardboard (no need to get the paints out and “get messy”), combining this with colourful nature finds, as well as bits and bobs from a “regular” craft box as well as other recycled items.
From crocodiles, to kaleidoscopes, to airplaines, unicorns, swans and llamas, do pop over and be inspired by these wonderful makes! Or simply follow Little Lion Mom for a dose of pretty crafting in your feed!
Supplies needed for DIY TP Roll and Leaves Finger Puppets
How I love those little hands wielding finger puppets! All you need to make these is:
- A tp roll per puppet
- Colorful autumn leaves
- Paper scraps/ a little paint for details
- Scissors
- Markers for final details
- A glue stick will do, though you may wish to use a hot glue gun
Glue sticks are eco friendlier.. and if you choose to add glitter, do use bio degradable glitter!
How to make your Toilet Roll Finger Puppets with paper & fall leaves!
In this example we show you how to make a red leaf fox puppet! Though all the animal finger puppets are made in a similar way. Let the fox tutorial inspire you to make a the hedgehog, lion and deer puppets too!
Begin by flattening your toilet paper roll.
Cut into the toilet roll to make your finger puppet base. It should be wide enough to fit your or your child’s fingers.
Keep cutting until you have a rounded shape. With one side “closed” as you cut it along the edge of the folded toilet paper roll.
Add glue to the other edge and top. You can see we used a hot glue gun here, but a glue stick works just as well. Just give it a moment or two to fully dry!
From white paper cut an oval for the foxes face. Yhe ovale should be as wider as your toilet paper roll base.
Use this white base as a guide and cout out leave oval in the same shape but be SURE to add ears to this oval (two point triangles).
Once you have cute the red leaf oval (plus hears), cut out tabs to make it fox shaped.
Glue onto the white background you used as a template.
Glue this fox face to your toilet roll puppet base.
Now cut out a fox tummy and glue in place.
Get another red leaf and cut into a fox tail shape – you can add a little white paint to the tip.
Glue the leaf to the back of the fox.
Now with a fine black marker pen add the finishing touches – eyes and a nose! You can also use a hole punch to cut out little fox feet!
Your red leaf fox puppet is finished. Now see some more images for inspiration:
You can use a larger hole punch to cut out lots of yellow circles for a lion’s mane! Isn’t that adorable?
A brown leave with some zig zags cut into it, makes a wonderful hedgehog!
Or combine a brown leave, with some little twigs to make a lovely reinder. You can secure the twigs into the cardboard tube holder, as you glue it in place earlier on in the process!
Done! Aren’t they adorable?
If you enjoyed this craft and want to see many more like this, do hop on over to Little Lion Mom on Instagram and follow:
Looking for more lovely leaf craft ideas? Try our easy Leaf Lanterns or check out the different ways to preserve leaves!
We love Autumn Leaves!
Happy Crafting!