Making Simple Puppets



We found this lovely book on puppet making at the library. And there are all sorts of fantastic projects in it. We tried one of the simplest project from this book which is the knotted puppet





Simply cut out a piece of rag cloth. Using old paper/rags, form a ball for the head. Stuff in and tie a knot around to form the head.

Add woollen strands for hair. Then tie a knot on both sides of the cloth to form hands. Finally, place a long stick/straw beneath the cloth (hidden) for children to hold the puppet during story telling. P.S a reminder to self..in the future, use a more suitable cloth coz this came out looking like a ghost. ;) . Also if you like, you could sew in buttons or other material to form the mouth, nose and eyes.
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Cup Puppets (idea taken from same book above)





Stick your self-designed cut out clothes on a paper cup



Add a head



Draw in features, add in accessories. Here I've added a belt and used wool for hair



Stick a stick/straw under for hands to hold



All four dolls that my children and I had fun making
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Cardboard Paper Doll by Jessy Phuah

This lovely doll has 2 sides, a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other.

How Jessy did it~ Cut out shape of doll on a cardboard. Make sure to also cut out a long strip beneath the doll (attached to doll) to stuff into a thick straw for hands to hold.

~ cut out material from unwanted clothings and wrap around doll to create a pretty dress. Stitch or stick in place.

~Stuff long strip beneath doll into a thick straw to strengthen it

~add woolen strands for hair and draw in the face



Here's the Happy side of the doll



and the sad side

Hope you enjoy the projects as much as we did or look for the book for more ideas, or create your own.



@Martha, 2011

Making Socks Bunny

Because Easter's this coming weekend,  I noticed a few blogs posting Easter related craft projects, one of which is the Socks Bunny.

I decided to give it a go, and decided to try a really easy version. 

1) Stuff the bottom part of the sock, leaving the "heel" section of the sock unstuffed for the moment. Twist slightly, and using a needle and thread sew the stuffing in. (I sewed a loop around the sock, pulled it tight, and used the thread to go several rounds around it as well.) This creates the bunny's body.



Nel's first attempt at stitching and she did it pretty well!

 2) Squish a little stuffing at the end of the body to create the tail, sew another tight loop.



Notice the "heel" section of the sock is unstuffed? Also you can see how the bunny's going to be already.

   3) Stuff the "heel" section of the sock, sew another loop to form the head. I also used a little stitch to attach the bunny head to the body so it is upright and not drooping forward.

4) here I snipped some cloth away in the center to create the rabbit's ears.

5) then I stitched the open bits together. My girls chose to leave the ears unstitched to create a droopy effect.

Ears stitched

 6) Attach eyes, ribbon or whatever you want. I've seen some people attach whiskers and nose. We just left it this way.



This is Nel's almost done.  She did it completely by herself! and named it Blaster.

 

Here's Zillary (the pink bunny, name given by Jo) and Pixel (my old white sock bunny.)

This is Junee's cutie rabbit.

And here's them all. Best friends forever. haha...

@Martha, 2011

Pottery in Segambut

How wonderful it is to allow children to feel what clay is like, and how it feels to mould that soft, formless clay into something specific, something special. (Just like how God formed each of us into someone unique! )

The teacher Mr. Cheah, is a wonderful, patient teacher who handles children really well. When we were there, he started off by telling us what clay was made off, its composition (silica and alumina).  He told us about colours, about how to FEEL the clay, to gauge its balance, thickness, to pinch it gently, score it, shape it etc etc. Very detailed and informative class!

You will have to go back a second time after completing your project to glaze and paint your work of art. Altogether he charged us RM50 per person, which was really worth it, considering the hours he spent with us!

(I highly recommend his classes. His shop is in Segambut, he can usually be contacted between classes, somewhere during lunch time at this number : 017 8812265 )(he's not paying me for this advert) :)



these are for the advance student (Many Japanese students there)

Mr. Cheat cutting clay for us. He was very generous with the ammount of clay given!

Showing us the different types of clay

After finishing their pots and vases, some of the children decided to embark on more creative projects. :)