Our son loves putting on puppet shows lately, so we thought it would be fun to make a puppet theater. We put it together with things we had around the house, so it cost nothing and I think it turned out pretty cute!
I've teamed up with Netflix to share how to make a puppet theater for your kids!
A couple weeks ago our son wanted to sing a song with his toy microphone, but what he asked before he started to sing broke my heart a little. He asked "If I sing, will you guys not laugh at me?" He is a fairly confident four year old, so when he asked that it took me by surprise. After thinking about it, I realized that we do laugh when he's performing, but we're not laughing at him. I'm just constantly amazed with his creativity and antics, and he makes me laugh! At bedtime that night I told him that when we laugh, we're laughing because he's making us happy. I made sure he understood that we're not laughing at him, but with him. After our conversation, he said "okay, then I like it when you laugh". It made me realize that kids pick up on a lot more than we give them credit for. Also, they really start developing character at such a young age.
A few days after that encounter we started watching Julie's Greenroom on Netflix, and I've been amazed by how well it speaks to kids about confidence. Each episode one of the characters experiences some nerves about performing, and the other characters rally behind them to build up their self-esteem. I can tell it's having an impact on our son's confidence as he watches the puppets overcome their fears. Because he's been loving Julie's Greenroom and the puppets to much lately, we decided to make a puppet theater so he can put on his own performances!
How to Make a Puppet Theater
We had a few large boxes in our garage so we started with those to make our puppet theater. There was a lot of duct tape involved as we made them the same height, so I'd suggest using one large box instead if you can.
Once we cut the boxes down to size and taped them together, it was time to cut the puppet theater window. A box cutter is helpful during this step!
We had some leftover Christmas wrapping paper to decorate the puppet theater with, and I thought the print was just about perfect.
I knew we wanted curtains but we weren't sure how to attach them. We ended up hot gluing the wrapping paper roll to the top of the window. Then I glued some leftover quilt fabric (we had just the right amount!) above the roll to create curtains.
After gluing fabric to create curtains on both sides, we tied them back with some twine. Things were really coming together and our son was getting excited to use his puppet theater!
I didn't like how the wrapping paper roll looked, so I found another piece of a big box to make a cover. We wrapped that in the same Christmas paper and stuck it on top.
For a finishing touch, we made some paper pinwheels! Talk about high impact, low cost-I love how these look! All I did was folded about one inch sections back and forth (like a fan), folded them in half, and then glued the sections together until I had enough for a circle.
I folded the paper different ways to get different sizes for each color. We used hot glue to keep them together and stick them on the puppet theater.
It was finally time to put on a show! Our son grabbed his puppets and put on a play for us. It was so fun to see his creativity come to life and I can't wait to see more performances! (We may have to work on keeping his arms and head down a little more ;))
It's been fun to see him recreate scenes in his puppet theater that he's watched on Julie's Greenroom. I've realized the shows he watches have a large impact on his life and how he sees the world. I want him to feel confident in himself and his abilities, among other positive characteristics. I find that a lot of the shows on Netflix promote positive character building, and we monitor what he watches closely. Here's a great graphic showing a few other shows and how they can help your kids grow!
It was really fun to make a puppet theater with my son. I can't wait to see him put on more shows with his puppets!
Do your kids enjoy playing with puppets?
Let me know if you'll try making a puppet theater in the comments!
Check out this Netflix post for some strong female role models for your kids:
Disclosure: I'm a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam and receive a subscription to their streaming services and a promotional item for participating in the program.
Kelly says
Oh that looks like fun! I'll have to keep this in mind as my son gets older. Right now it would just be a fancy fort (not that there is anything wrong with that 😉 ).
DanielleD says
This looks fabulous , I'm pinning it to make with my kids during the next rainy day !
Amber says
Thanks Danielle! We'd love to see a photo on our FB page if you make one 🙂
jennifer babich says
This is adorable! Probably as much fun to make as it is to play with. Love the bold colors
Amber says
Thanks Jennifer! The colors just happened to be what I had on hand, but I thought they went well with the theater theme 🙂
Malissa says
This would be great to use with our toliet paper puppets
Christy Worthington says
This would be great for the kida and looks fairly easy to make and would keep them entained...great idea!
Christina mckee says
very adorable, I've done this type of thing in my preschool it works great
Heather s. says
This is such a great idea for something you're going to end up throwing away! Hopefully he enjoyed his puppet theater!
Ashley m. says
Neat idea
Teresa Anderson says
Looks like fun!!!
Crisstina McCaslin says
Super cute, my kids would love to have one but we do not have enough space.
Angi Hoagland says
What a great idea! Not only do you have a fun, easy new "toy" for the kiddos, but you don't have to break down the box for the trash!
Sylvia says
This is very creative!
Nancy Thompson says
Neat idea.
Lauralynn Mangis says
What an awesome idea! I'm always wondering what to do with our boxes. Thank you!
Deborah D says
This is so cute. My nieces would love this.
Joanna Evans says
This is really nice! We might have to do this soon!
Amber Ludwig says
SUCH a great idea!! Super fun and a great use for leftover boxes!! My son LOVES puppets and would have a blast with this!!
Laurie Snow says
What a great rainy day activity!
Ashley Agner says
How awesome!
Victoria Scott says
This is such a great use of re-purposing and recycling! I really love the paper fans too!
Ashtynn Alba says
This is fabulous! My daycare kids love to play with puppets so I know that this will be a huge hit with them, thank you for the idea!
Heather Cahill says
Cool idea!
Rija says
Such a cute idea ,reminds me about my childhood !
Mia says
This is such an adorable idea for the budding young actors in the family.
Barbara Parker says
Wow. So easy and simple to make. We made one as kids but never thought of using a rod for curtains.We just pin them open as our show began.
tammy smith says
My granddaughters would have fun with this and with their friends.
Vicky Chan says
Cool idea for crafty and non-crafty people!!!
Linda Manns Linneman says
This puppet theatre is so cute. I can see my grandchildren having hours of fun with this. Thank you for sharing
Sarah Travis says
What an awesome way to make use of boxes!! We have too many of them in our garage so I might just have to rescue one!
Amy B says
This is a cute and creative way to use big boxes!
Rosie says
I've made puppets before for kids for church programs, and they love this. What a cute idea!
Lisa Weeks says
Oh my gosh this is so cool!my daughter would have so much fun!
Dorothy Boucher says
What a fantastic idea, I love how easy this was to put together and like that you added
those paper flowers to this.
@tisonlyme143