Finger Puppet Play

Finger Plays with Nursery Rhymes are valuable activities that help children acquire skills that are essential to their development and learning. They help improve and advance memory and language skills, while also aiding in the development of eye-hand coordination and enhancing their gross and fine motor skills.

Mesmerized by movement and enhanced by animal toys, babies are natural audiences for a miniature puppet show. Lay your baby on his back or put him in a reclining bouncy seat. Just slip a finger puppet or two onto your fingers and let them bob, dance, kiss, tickle, sing and talk to your littlest spectator. At this age, he’s likely to reach out, grab a puppet, and start to mouth it, which is fine. (Just be sure the puppets have no small parts that can be pulled off and swallowed.) He’s equally likely to babble, gurgle, and blow raspberries at the animated actors. Find a song to go with your puppet and make it a musical show!

Listening to the puppet talk and sing will help him learn the art of conversation – that is, that first one person (or puppet, as the case may be) talks, and then the other person responds. Being tickled and nuzzled by his little friends provides both entertaining tactile stimulation and fun, positive interaction with you.

Some Examples of rhymes you could use a finger puppet with are:
Baa Black Sheep/Little Bo Peep – Black sheep
Five Little Ducks – Duck
Five Speckled Frogs – Green Frog
Hickory Dickory Dock/ Three Blind Mice – Mouse
Incy Wincy Spider/ Little Miss Muffet – Spider
One, Two, Three, Four, Five - Fish

Simple Paper Finger Puppets

To make paper finger puppets use stiff paper, such as coloured construction paper. Cut out small rectangles and make simple cylinders the size of your fingertips, taping, gluing, or stapling the paper together around your finger. Paste on ears, whiskers, or a hat for the animal or character you want to create. A man in a top hat is fairly simple, as is a cat with pointy ears.
Finally, draw faces with a felt pen, keeping the features fairly plain: Babies react most directly and dramatically to simple, graphic faces.

Felt Finger Puppets

Materials:
Felt scraps
Craft scissors
Craft glue
Sewing notions
Permanent colored markers
Cotton balls

Instructions:
For each puppet, first cut out a pair of 1 5/8- x 3-inch felt rectangles to serve as the front and back of the animal.

MR HORSE: For ears, cut out a pair of felt ovals (about 1 1/2 inches long). Fold them in half lengthwise and glue together the lower edges. Glue the bases of the ears to the back of the puppet. Add a fringed forelock, white mane and rounded muzzle. Use a marker to draw jawlines and nostrils.

BABY BIRD: Cut out a triangular felt bird beak and glue it in place. Add plumage.

SPOTTED HEIFER: Make cow ears following the same steps used for the horse. Glue on a pink muzzle. Colour bold black spots on the ears and face.

PINK PIGGY: For floppy pig ears, use 2-inch felt circles. Attach them as previously described for the horse. For pig cheeks and a snout, glue on 1-inch felt circles.

WOOLLY LAMB: Attach ears horizontally to the front of the lamb. Glue a bit of cotton "wool" to the top of its head and draw on the face.