DIY Earth Hand Puppet to Celebrate Earth Day

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and I want to take the time to talk to the kids about what we can do to minimize our impact on the climate. I made this DIY Earth hand puppet to help me along with the conversation. I don’t know about your kids, but if a puppet comes along, they immediately give it all of their attention. The moment this Earth hand puppet got a face, the kids started a conversation with it! Here is how our conversation went; our little Earth puppet asked them to turn off the lights when they are not in use because he feels hot when we leave them on all the time. I forgot to take the price tag off the felt, and my son immediately pointed it out, so our little Earth friend mentioned that sometimes trash lands on its oceans, and that is why he was dirty. We followed that by talking about ways we can recycle and reuse. We also talked about why trees are so important. My kids are little and don’t understand the full scope of things. But they care and asked lots of questions, including asking if Earth had coronavirus. They also have a short attention span, so they quickly changed the conversation to have a tickle fight with the Earth puppet. LOL. I love this little craft. It was easy to make, and it helped me teach the kids about Earth Day without frightening them. Below are the instructions to make your own.

Materials

To do this project, I used materials that I already had at home from previous projects. Feel free to substitute the materials. If you don’t have felt, use paper or cardboard and attach it to a popsicle stick. If you don’t have acrylic paint, then use markers or finger paint.

• Earth template
• Craft knife
• Two blue felt sheets
• Pin
• Scissors
• Acrylic paint – green, black, and pink
• Sponge brushes – small
• Craft glue – Sew if possible.

Instructions

1. Download and print the Earth template.
2. Use a craft knife to cut out the continents and face.
3. Pin the sheet of paper to the felt sheet and paint the continents green. Let it dry.
4. Once the green paint is dried, cut out the Earth and trace a circle around the continents. Trace another circle of the same size on a second felt sheet.
5. Glue (or sew) the two pieces together, but leave a 5-inch gap on the bottom for hand access. Trim any excess felt around the edges.
6. Finally, place the face over the continents and paint the eyes and mouth with black paint and use pink for the cheeks. Let it dry.

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