Materials list:

Help your child find these materials or a close substitute: 

• Standard paper to fold into a puppet (Print out our Puppet Template, or use blank sheets of letter-sized paper.)
• Glue (A glue stick is best, but tape also works.)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Coloring utensils (crayons, colored pencils, markers, etc.)

Activity Steps:

Refer to these steps to keep young innovator on track as they create:

1. 1. Fold the paper into thirds, lengthwise, see our Puppet Template.
   2. Glue or tape the loose edge to secure the fold, making a skinny rectangle.
   3. Fold the rectangle in half, so the short, open ends touch.
   4. Take each open end and fold it back to the center-fold. It is folded correctly if it looks like an M or W.
   5. Decide what animal/creature to make. Be visionary and imagine all the distinguishing features of that animal — colors, patterns, eyes, nose, ears, etc.
   6. Draw facial features on the puppet’s face.
   7. Cut out ears, horns, etc, and glue them on the face.
   8. Open up the puppet’s mouth. Draw a big oval for the mouth shape. Add teeth, tongue, etc.
   9. Draw and cut out something to put in the puppet’s mouth: food, a speech bubble, etc.

Optional: Create more puppets! When your puppets are ready, be visionary and put on a puppet show.

Guiding Questions:

If your child is stuck, try asking these questions to help them keep on innovating: 

• [If they get stuck when folding] What did you fold so far? Where did you get confused? Can you unfold it and try again? Does it look like an M or W?
• What animal/creature are you trying to make? What are the things that make that animal/creature look different from other animals (colors, patterns, shape of body parts, etc)? What resources could you use to get ideas about how it looks (books, the internet, etc.)?
• What could you put in your puppet’s mouth that makes sense for that kind of animal/creature? What could you put in its mouth that would be funny/silly?

More Ideas:

Every project presents opportunities to add your own twists or extensions. Here are some ideas to get you started: 

• Step it Up!  Make a bunch of things to put in the puppet’s mouth that you can swap out. Put a small tape loop or piece of poster putty in the mouth so different foods and objects can be swapped in and out.
• Innovate On! Make more puppets and put on a puppet show using multiple characters. You can even design a backdrop or a puppet theater for the show! Here’s some puppet show starter ideas:
  • Reenactment or retelling of a favorite story (ex: Modern-Day Cinderella, 3 Little Pigs but with fish and a shark, etc)
  • Puppet lip sync battle/talent show

Wrap Up Questions:

Lock in the learning by asking your child these questions about their project and how they practiced the featured Innovator’s Mindset element: 

• What is your puppet’s name? Where do you imagine it lives? What character will it play in your puppet show—Hero? Villain? Diva? Comic relief?
• What was your favorite part of making your puppet? How do you feel about how it turned out?
• How did you use your visionary powers to transform it from a blank square to this animal or creature? What parts did you focus on that make it really look like your animal and not just any animal?

Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.

SHARE WITH galileo

Take a picture of your child’s puppet or a video of their puppet show and share it with the Camp Galileo Anywhere Facebook Community.

Share with family and friends

Your innovation doesn’t stop with you. Inspire someone else by sharing your project challenge—maybe they’ll try it themselves or maybe your project will give them a new idea.

• Who: someone in your house, a family member, a friend
• How: in person, on the phone, online
• When: anytime, starting now!