Spoon and Finger Puppet Instructions

Puppets are a great way to engage the children and help them imagine the story. These are simple to make and easy to use.

Move the characters around as you tell the story so that the characters act out the story like a play.

Preparation:

1. Choose a bible story and read the passage from the Bible.
2. With the story in mind, make a list of characters needed to tell the story. It is best to keep the number of characters small.

Select and Create the Puppets:

1. Fingertip Puppet:

• Materials: pen or fine Sharpie marker
• Instructions: The most simple puppet. Simply use a pen and draw a face on the pad of a finger. You could also “dress up” the characters with a small cloth for a head covering or a man’s headdress. Secure the fabric with rubberbands.

2. Paper Puppet on a Finger:

• Materials: paper, markers or crayons, scissors and tape
• Instructions: Draw a face or the entire body of a character on a small piece of paper. Wrap the paper around a finger and secure with tape. Patterns for drawing Bible characters.

3. Spoon Puppet:

• Materials: plastic spoon, permanent markers (like Sharpie markers)
• Instructions: Draw a face on the back side of a plastic spoon. It is best to use a permanent marker for this (like a Sharpie pen).

Adaptations:

1. Use the characters to ask review or reflection questions.
2. Attach the puppet to a craft stick or a pencil instead of making the finger puppet.
3. Tell the story and then guide the children in making their own finger puppets.
4. Let the children who arrive early join you in making the puppets that you will use later on to tell the story.
5. Make the characters as elaborate as you want. You may wish to add scenery like sand to walk on, trees and bushes, or houses. If you teach often, you might want to start your own collection. These are easy to file.
6. Instead of making the characters in the Bible story, you or the children could make characters that represent children in general or even the children themselves. Guide the children in facing scenarios that are applications of the story you have taught. For example, the “children” could be playing on the playground when they see someone being a bully. What should they do?

The video uses the story of Paul’s Nephew Uncovers a Plot as an example.