What could be more fun on a rainy day than creating puppets featuring members of your own family? This is a fun activity with the kids or a thoughtful homemade gift for a child in your life.

Using a lightweight card stock, draw each member of the family. Be sure to include some distinctive features. If your nephew loves to play the guitar, include that in the drawing. If your daughter has a favorite shirt, draw that on her. You can even create puppets of the family pets. If you aren’t a confident artist, you can cut out pictures of your family members’ faces and glue them to the neck of the drawing.

Carefully cut out each puppet. Affix each puppet to a popsicle stick with tacky or white glue. While waiting for them to dry you can create accessories for your puppets. Using paper, draw hats, toys, or clothing. Draw small rectangular tabs on the top and sides of each piece; later these can be folded back to fasten the accessories to the puppets.

To create a puppet theater for your masterpieces, use a large shoe box. Boot boxes work best. Remove the lid and cut a rectangular opening in the bottom of the box. Be sure to leave two to three inches of cardboard along the bottom to hide the puppeteer’s hands. Choose some cheerful scrapbook paper to cover your theater. Put the paper face down. Lay your puppet theater on the paper cut side down. Trace around the cut with a pencil, then use a razor knife to cut the scrapbook paper. Use a glue stick to carefully glue the paper on the front of the puppet theater. Cover the top and sides of the shoe box as well. For an extra special touch, add the child’s name to the front of the theater with a small rectangle of coordinating paper.

Puppets spark a child’s imagination and creativity. They can enjoy creating further accessories and characters, writing scripts, and putting on performances for family and friends. Puppet theaters have help support children’s cognitive growth and make great family memories to boot!