How to make DIY wooden spoon puppets for kids

09 Jun 2022

This is a fun weekend DIY project that kids will love, and even better, the puppets will keep them entertained for the day once you’ve made them. You could paint book characters like Fleur has done or get creative and recreate your own child’s favourite animated characters or even create puppets to reflect your extended family members.

The finished characters are brought to life with colours like Resene Soulful,Resene Dark Buff, Resene Pot Pourri,Resene White and Resene Black. Wall in Resene Dark Knight. 

You will need:

• Wooden spoons
• Craft sized paintbrushes
• Cardboard
• PVA glue
• Resene testpot in your choice of colours (Fleur used Resene Soulful, Resene Dark Buff, Resene Pot Pourri, Resene White, Resene Black, Resene Rebel, Resene Pirate Gold, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Havoc, Resene Raven, Resene Captain Cook, Resene Aquamarine, Resene Crusoe, Resene Parsley, Resene Rob Roy, Resene Crail and Resene Irresistible)

How to:

Step 1: For this project you need some wooden spoons.  Fleur bought hers in packs of three from her local supermarket. She painted on the backs of the spoons.

Step 2: Fleur painted the faces of the people (Where’s Wally, Harry Potter and Matilda) in Resene Soulful. She painted Paddington Bear’s face in Resene Dark Buff and the Wild Thing in Resene Pot Pourri. 

Step 3: Next, work on the details of the faces using Resene White, Resene Black and Resene Rebel for Wally, and Resene Pirate Gold and Resene Glamour Puss for the Wild Thing’s face. Matilda and Harry’s face is mostly in Resene Black. 

Step 4: For the clothing, try: Resene Havoc and Resene White for Wally’s stripes; Resene Black, Resene Raven, Resene Pirate Gold and Resene Havoc for Harry’s school uniform; Resene Captain Cook for Matilda’s dress and Paddington’s duffle coat; and Resene Rob Roy and Resene Crail for the Wild Thing’s top.  The Hungry Caterpillar’s body is made up of three greens: Resene Aquamarine, Resene Crusoe and Resene Parsley.

Step 5: To finish, you can add some final features with cardboard. Fleur cut, painted and glued hers into place with PVA glue. Wally’s hat is painted with Resene Havoc and Resene White; Harry’s hair is Resene Black; Matilda’s book is Resene Irresistible; Paddington’s hat is Resene Havoc and the Caterpillar’s head is Resene Havoc and eyes in Resene Pirate Gold and Resene Crusoe.

project and images by Fleur Thorpe

Published: 09 Jun 2022