How to make Pirate Finger Puppets
Har harrrr! We love Pirate Crafts for Kids! And as part of our Sky Kids Best Makes Ever! series, we have some ridiculously cute Paper Pirate Finger Puppets to share with you today! They are so cute, and so easy to make… and all you need is paper (googly eyes optional)!!! Let’s take a look…
FYI – this is NOT a sponsored post.. as Sky kids did not pay me to post this. However, I have been working them for a couple of years now and am so excited about the series, that I really wanted to take this opportunity to show case this craft to you! Also note, the Best Makes Ever! series is a collaboration with the fabulous Arty Crafty Kids!
The aim of the Best Makes Ever! series was to bring easy, do-able crafts for kids of all ages that use everyday materials! Nothing too fancy.. some basic stationary/ craft materials, some recycling and off you go to make these fabulous set of every day crafts! There is a lovely mixture of “art” and “craft”… and many of the crafts can be played with or used in some other way (e.g. some lovely photo frames to gift to mum on Mother’s Day maybe?!).
All of the projects aim to teach children some basic arts and crafts skills and projects ideas, which they can then take and customise further themselves!
And today, I get the opportunity to showcase one of these crafts our – super fun and easy Paper Pirate Finger Puppets with you! You can watch the actually video on the Sky Kids’ new YouTube channel… and if you enjoy it, why not pop over to Sky Kids and watch the rest of the Best makes Ever! series?
In order to stay “in keeping” with how we share crafts here on Red Ted Art, Sky has allowed me to not only embed the YouTube video, but also outline the step by step makes below. So… have a quick browse of the tutorial.. and then watch the video with your kids for more detail!
What will you find in the Best Makes Ever! series?
As mentioned, the Best Makes Ever! series is a collaboration between Sky Kids, Arty Crafty Kids and Red Ted Art. This series comprises 20 Best Makes. 10 of which Arty Crafty Kids created and 10 of which are from me. The titles include:
- Pop Up Lion Cards
- Pirate Finger Puppets
- Four Seasons Tree
- Tissue Ppaer Fish
- Leaf-Printed Butterfly
- Wool-Wrapped Flowers
- Handprint Fish
- Monster Board Game
- Eggbox Flowers
- String Art
- Shark & Fisg Catching Game
- Paint-Along Flamingo
- Cow Bookmark
- Llama Marionettes
- Saltdough Clouds
- Spray Handprint Art
- Stick Photo Frame
- Lions Art Project
- Owl & Fox Keyring (sew a long)
- Turtle Treasure Box
Onwards.. time for our Pirate Paper Puppet make:
Supplies needed to make simple paper finger puppets – pirate theme:
The supplies for this project really are super basic, we used:
- Some coloured paper – use off cuts to be super thrifty
- A pair of scissors (child friendly scissors!)
- Good quality glue stick
- Optional googly eyes (you can cut out paper ones too)
- Black, red and blue washable pens
That is it! Super basic right?!
How to make pirate finger puppets from paper:
So.. as mentioned.. here is our Sky Kids YouTube video!!! But if you want a quick overview of the craft, you can scroll down to the step by step photo instructions below!
The video shows you how to make both the “Main” pirate finger puppet and the green parrot puppet!
Step by step instructions for making a Paper Finger Puppet – Pirate themed
Make the basic paper finger puppet shape to fit perfectly:
Begin by making the basic finger puppet shape to fit your child’s fingers “perfectly.
Take a piece of paper using your skin tone colour of choice. Don’t have the colour paper you want.. use white paper and colour it in with pencils or crayons! That is what we did for the “pink” pirate.
Wrap around your finger to make a simple measurement.
Crease the paper a little where it fits around your finger onces, and also at the top of your finger – leave a space for folding at the top of the paper when cutting.
Cut out a rectangle along these creases. If in doubt, cut a little bigger, you can always trim it later!
Make your pirate puppet features:
Black in part of the “bottom” of the paper – this will be your pirate’s trousers.
Using an off cut of white paper, draw some stripes that are the same with as your piece of puppet paper. This will be your pirate’s shirt.
Cut out and glue down just above the pirate’s trousers.
Now roll up your piece of paper again and secure with a little glue.
Basic paper puppet assembly
Fold over the top of your paper puppet.
Open up again and add a little glue. Fold down and secure in place.
The basic pirate paper puppet is finished!
Now you just need to add the finishing pirate feature touches!
Make the pirate’s hat and decorate
Using your finger puppet as a guide, sketch out a pirate’s hat – basically it is a rectangle with a semi circle.
Decorate in whatever way you feel comfortable. A skull and cross bone is of course fabulous.
Cut out.
Add hair to your pirate.
Glue on googly eyes and add any other features – such a smile and some stubble.
Glue the hat in place! Ta-daaaaaaa.
Make lots of pirate friends with different features:
There are lots of ways you can decorate your pirate finger puppets – for example:
- Switch out the pirate shirt colours
- Add an eye patch to your pirate
- Give your pirate a moustache or beard
- Give your pirate a bandana hat (draw a semi circle with dots and two little quiffs to the side) instead of a skull and cross bones hat
- Cut out strips of paper (e.g. yellow) for hair and give your pirate NO hat!
What to learn how to make the Parrot Finger Puppet?! You can either head here for more detailed instructions, or better still, watch the Sky Kids YouTube video embedded above! ENJOY!!!
Remember, you can watch the rest of this fabulous series on Sky Kids today:
