Dinosaur Puppet Craft (Free Template)
Craft these fun and adorable dinosaur puppet crafts in just a few simple steps! When you’re done, check out farm animal stick puppets. This post contains affiliate links.
Puppet play is fun and engaging for all ages, and these adorable stick puppets will have you or your little ones wishing to go back to the dinosaur age! A loves, loves, loves puppets, and I’m always amazed by the worlds she creates with them.
Puppets are amazing for children’s social and emotional development. They give kids the opportunity to take part in a variety of interactions without the pressures that may come along in real life. Kids can take on roles in a puppet show that they can’t or don’t access in their lives. It’s also a great way to practice all types of language skills.
While we’ve featured a number of hand puppets recently, stick puppets are a different concept. Because they’re little and don’t need to be put over your whole hand, one person can manipulate a bunch of characters in one scene. They are also easy to travel with or bring along to a playdate.
On the other hand, because they’re smaller, they require a little more fine motor skills to cut out and put together. This is a great way to move kids to a higher level if they’ve previously enjoyed making larger puppets and crafts.
You can also enlarge the template before printing if you’d like it slightly larger; the dinosaurs will still sit comfortably on a stick at 150% of their size.
One super fun thing you can do with stick puppets is make your own puppet theater. You could do this for any puppets, but the small size of stick puppets makes it so much easier.
Turn an adult-size shoebox upside-down and decorate the outside with colored paper and available materials to create your stage. You can even store the puppets inside the shoebox when you’re done playing!
Or go big! My kids love climbing into large delivery boxes that we get. We color the front of them like the scene we want to create and the stick the puppets up and over to make their show.
I’ve used simple cardstock and markers to create these puppets to show you how very easy and inexpensive it can be. But you can also let your (or your child’s) imagination go wild and use different types of materials – perhaps different kinds of paper, felt, or foam; wiggly eyes, and anything else you have on hand.
In fact, when doing a pre-made craft like this dinosaur puppet craft, I specifically like to offer different materials. My crafting style is to offer a framework, so that kids who are less naturally creative can have inspiration to start them off, but still give them space to innovate.
Grab your free dinosaur puppet craft template at the end of this post and get ready to go back in time with your new dinosaur friends!
What you need
- Colored paper
- Glue
- Pencil
- Popsicle sticks
- Markers
- Scissors
How to make a dinosaur puppet craft
1. Pick some brightly colored papers for the dinosaurs. You’ll want some contrasting colors to fully enjoy the fun patterns. Cut out the template pieces, trace them onto the colors of your choice, and cut them out carefully. Make sure to trace spots and scales for each dinosaur on a different color than you’re using for its body.
2. Glue the spot cutouts onto the triceratops and stegosaurus bodies.
3. Glue the scales to the back of the T-rex and stegosaurus, sticking out of the edge so they will be visible from the front. Glue the horns to the triceratops’s head.
4. Glue the triceratops’ head to the front of the body.
5. Complete the other dinosaurs similarly by gluing the cutouts together to match the patterns. Draw on simple faces if you’d like (totally optional).
6. Glue or tape popsicle sticks to the backs of the dinosaurs to complete the puppets.
Download the Dinosaur Puppet Craft Template:
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