We’ve been holed up in our homes from the Covid-19 pandemic for almost a month now, and finding creative activities for a 2 year old to stay engaged in day after day is truly becoming a feat in it’s own right. After taking a quick scan of my craft closet and seeing what could be made easily, I came up with these DIY Felt Monster Puppets, which are easy to make and reusable, for endless combinations and fun.
These felt monster puppets keep Marina entertained for 20-30 minutes, which is just about as much as any other toy on the market, and I love that she can really use her imagination every time we play with them. We have dubbed one the ‘mama’, one the ‘dada’, and two the ‘baby monsters’ and she makes them do silly monster dances and basically just wears them around the living room before rearranging their faces every 2 minutes.
They are pretty straightforward to make and require zero crafting skills, but depending on the age of your toddler you may find that as the adult you actually ‘make’ most of them for your child to play with once done. Since Marina is only 2 I did all of the work, but had her next to me during the process so she could feel like she was making them with me. I figured I would share a tutorial with you just in case you need to scan your own craft closet (or Amazon cart) and make sure you have everything that you need.
DIY Felt Monster Puppets for Toddlers
What you need:
- Several regular size sheets of felt, in various colors. The more, the merrier! We used about 6 but felt is always good to have around the house for projects so one of these sets is nice to stock up on.
- Hot glue and glue gun
- Sticky back velcro dots
- Scissors
- PomPoms for hair (optional)
How to Make the Felt Monster Puppets
Step 1: Fold in half or cut 2 monster ‘heads’ and get silly with the shape! Hot glue around the outside to secure the front and back.
Step 2: Have your child pick out pompoms of whatever color to hot glue on the top of the ‘head’.
Step 3: Cut out random shapes for noses and mouths, and extra shapes that will become whatever… mustaches, eyebrows, third eyes, ears…. You never know what squiggly or odd shapes can become!
Step 4: I used an off-white felt and a black felt to make up a bunch of random eye shapes, and also used the glue gun to secure.
Step 5: Stick on the spiky/spiny side of the velcro dots to the back of your shapes and eyes. You will not need the other side of the dots, as the spiky side sticks right to the felt and can be removed over and over. Eventually the felt will wear but if they do, you know you got in a lot of playtime beforehand!
That’s it! Simply stick and re-stick shapes on your monster puppet heads, and have fun putting on puppet plays and having them come to life. There are so many aspects of this craft that are good for toddlers; the sensory activity of touching the felt, spiky dots and pom poms, the practice with colors and shapes, identification of body parts like eyes, nose, mouth, realizing different combinations make different faces and expressions, as well as the make believe aspect once they have made their monsters. I truly think it’s such a great activity that can benefit children ages 2-6!
