Activity: Family Puppets

Make paper sack puppets that look and "act" like the entire family!

Materials:

• small brown or white paper lunch sacks
• colored paper or felt for facial features
• yarn for hair
• fabric for ties, collars, hair bows, etc.
• glue
• markers for writing names or fun messages about each person on their puppet sack

Directions:
Help your child describe each family member (or special friends) one by one. Talk about hair color, eye color, skin color, freckles, moles, etc. Who has the biggest nose, longest hair, and does anyone have freckles? Using small paper lunch sacks for each face, draw, color, and cut out eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, teeth, and ears. Glue features on the top section of the back flap of the bag. Glue mouth and teeth below the flap and attach ears on the side of the sack. Add hair, freckles, etc. Now the fun begins as you, your child, and family members or special friends bring the puppets to life by talking, singing, and acting like each paper sack puppet!

Talk about It: Ask your child to share what he/she likes best about him/herself and why. Then take turns sharing what you find most interesting about each others looks, personalities, and interests.

Take it Further: Encourage your child to build important social skills and tolerance of others by using these ideas:

• Attend cultural festivals in your community to experience new and different music, art, food, and cultural traditions.
• Provide opportunities for your child to play and interact with friends from other cultures.
• Help your child find a "pen pal" from another country to communicate with supervision, of course!

With a Group: Make an entire community (group) of finger puppets by using the following idea: Use cardstock or poster board to trace an animal pattern; make the pattern approximately 5 inches wide and 6 inches tall. Cut out and color pattern with animal features. Features can also be added by using paper, yarn, cotton, etc. About 1 inch from the bottom of the pattern, cut out two holes large enough for two fingers. This will make the pattern into a puppet. Have fun role-playing animal sounds or giving the animals human voices to talk about what they like about themselves, their interests, and to share ideas from an animal's point of view!