How to Easily Make Valentines Finger Puppets
I cannot believe it’s already halfway through January. This past holiday season flew. Thanksgiving sprang up on me, and then Christmas – I was still running around buying gifts a few days prior, which is really unlike me.
Now that it’s a new year, I’m getting back to my old ways and getting myself organized ahead of time. There’s so just so much unnecessary stress when you are running behind.
That being said, I’ve already been working on this year’s Valentine’s Day crafts! Wahoo!
And, this is a good one – Valentines felt finger puppets!
They are so simple and so cute – it’s the perfect Valentine’s activity for kids. Not to mention, I made them from scrap materials.
My son is a little obsessed with nursery rhymes – Wheels on the Bus, Hot Cross Buns, and most recently a song called “The Finger Family,” which essentially uses finger puppets for family members. He sings it probably about 50 times a day.
The other day he took off all the marker caps and placed them on his fingers and started singing “Mommy Finger, Mommy Finger, Where are you?”Before I chimed in with, “Here I am, Here I am, How do you do? (I’m not helping the obsession), I realized he needed some real finger puppets.
I thought about using photos and using our family – or just drawing some pictures with him – but then I thought I could tie it into a fun Valentine’s Day activity.
Making Felt Finger Puppets
It would have been super simple to use the fingers on a pair of gloves – but gloves are way too precious around here.
So, I used my go-to material – felt.
I was determined to use all scraps for this project – and I successfully did so. I didn’t spend a penny.
Felt Finger Puppet Materials:
- One sheet of felt
- Card stock/construction paper
- Sharpie/markers
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Regular glue
Steps for Making Felt Finger Puppets
I used just one sheet of felt for all ten fingers. Then, I liberally traced my pointer finger eight times and my thumb twice.
After, I cut slits in between each of the traced fingers, so I could quickly fold them up (to be double sided) after I hot glued them. This worked like a charm.
Here’s a picture I quickly snapped of going over the outline with hot glue – and then folding it up.
Next, I cut off the excess felt. This took a little patience, since the glue/outline was inside. I roughly cut them and then ended up putting my pinky finger in each puppet and then carefully cutting off any additional excess.
I now had one hand ready to go 🙂
At this point, my son was begging to play with them. He was so excited about the finger puppets that I didn’t have the heart to say no.
So, I gave him these five and decided to make a second hand.
After both hands were done, it was time to get creative with heart-shaped animals.
I used a small cookie cutter to get the shape of the heart perfect and consistent for all of the fingers. It worked out really well 🙂
Before I knew it, I had a frog, chicken, penguin, panda, fox, lady bug, fish, fox, bunny, and a dog/mouse that was originally a bear.
You can see in the top of the picture (below) that I used garage sale stickers to put some quick faces on the puppets while my son waited for the animals.
Decorating the Felt Finger Puppets
You can be as creative as you like making the felt finger puppets. Aside from the cookie cutter, I cut the rest of the hearts freehand.
One of those heart paper punches would have been perfect for this – but I was determined to make this a no-cost project 🙂
I also had some heart stickers lying around, but I liked using the card stock colors and patterns. I put some googly eyes on the lady bug – they were a little big – but it shows how you can incorporate some other crafty materials, too.
After the animals were done, I hot glued each to a finger puppet – and voila! We had an Animal Finger Family.
My favorite is the chicken. It turned out so cute 🙂
Here are a few more close-ups:
For longevity, you could laminate the animals (before the googly eyes and before gluing to the finger puppet), making the felt finger puppets more durable. You could do this either with a home laminator or using packaging tape.
I’ve used both, and each works well 🙂
And my son, well he LOVED these puppets. Needless to say, all we’ve been hearing is “Froggie finger, Froggie finger, where are you?”
And of course, we keep the song going 🙂
Those are so stinkin cute! You’re right, the chicken is adorable, but I love the tongue on the frog, too. Definitely going to have to check out my craft supply stash to see if I can get some of these made for the little one.
Aww thanks Leslie! My son is having a ball! And I love a scrap project:))
Those are adorable! I love how you incorporated hearts for all their little features. Very creative.
Thanks so much, Jamie! They were fun to make:))
What a great idea! My daughter LOVES arts and crafts, but I’m not so good at them. It’s wonderful to find such a helpful, do-able idea! : )
Aww thanks, Anna! I’m not one for complicated – the simpler the better:)
How cute! I’m going to share this on my facebook page as well!
Aww thanks so much, Missy! You can find us there too @justmeasuringup
Love it! Super cute and creative!
God bless,
Patty
Thank you so much, Patty:))
These are so cute! I love them! My two-year-old has some from IKEA, but I would love to add to his collection with homemade ones! Thanks for sharing your cute idea!
Thanks, Tina!! They were so fun to make and my son is having a blast:)
These are adorable! Pinning for later 🙂 I found you from The Modest Mom link up!
Thanks so much, Lauren! You can find us on Pinterest too @justmeasuringup :))
These are super cute – I love them! I think the frog is my fav…
Thanks Selina!!:)) love the frog too:)
Super Cute!
Thanks Tacy!
They are adorable. Love the chicken and the frog!
Thanks, Camille! Me too 🙂
I love these! I’d love it if you shared them on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY party!
http://www.pleasuresofthenw.com/do-it-yourself-crafty-linkup-40/
Thanks, Helen – will do! 🙂
Love these!! They’re so cute 🙂
Thanks, Rachel :)) My toddler is having a ball!
These are so cute! My grandkids would love them. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Debbie! They are so easy to make 🙂 And you can use all sorts of themes 🙂
Thanks, Jess! Will do 🙂
Aw, these are just adorable!
Thanks so much, Mother of 3!
What a cute idea for Valentine’s Day! I love the heart-shaped animals, especially the penguin.
Aw thanks Brooke!! :)) My son loves the penguin too 🙂
Eileen this is such a super cute idea. And the addition of the hearts was smart thinking. I know your little one will enjoy playing with these for a long time.
Hi Mary, Aww thanks so much!! Hearts are our favorite shape 🙂
these look super cute and love how easy they are to make
come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
Thanks Angie! Will do 🙂
Adorable! And so wonderful to meet you on craft schooling sunday, I hope you’ll continue to join the party with such cute projects!
Thanks, Sara!! I would love to 🙂
Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY Party!
Sure, Helen 🙂
All geared up for Valentines day! These puppets are adorable and Love the colours you have chosen to make them.
Thanks Menaka!! 🙂 We are enjoying them:)
Super cute idea! Thanks for sharing at Over the Moon.
Thanks so much, Shelley!
Very cute finger puppets and a fantastic tutorial. Thank you for sharing at Vintage Charm.
Thanks, Sharon!! 🙂
Love these! You’ll be my feature at the Funtastic Friday party this week. 🙂
Thanks, Donella! YAY – we are so excited 🙂
These are darling! My girls are constantly singing “the finger family” song too. It never seems to get old! Pinned and sharing. Thanks for joining us at Family Joy Blog Link-Up Party this week.
These are very cute. My little girl would love them so I think I’ll try making them for her. Fab idea. #TriumphantTales
So glad you like them, Sam!
Really cute finger puppets, thank you for the inspiration! I’ve been thinking of making some but haven’t got around to it yet. Thanks for the reminder! #BloggerCkubUK
Thanks so much! Glad you like them:)
Cute idea! Great for little kiddos!! Would also be cute as a Valentine’s Day card “gift”.
Thanks Victoria!
These are so cute! I bet my 2 year old would love some. Felt is the best (and so cheap!), isn’t it?
Yessss, love felt!!
They are cute and I bet fun to make.
Thanks Carol! Yes we enjoyed it:)
These are so cute! What kid doesn’t love finger puppets? Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
These are adorable. I should make some for my girls. #sharingthebloglove
Thanks Claire! So glad you like them:)
Very cute and a great idea! #BloggerClubUK
Thanks so much:)
These are so cute – I love the little penguin! I remember my mum making finger puppets with me, but I’ve not done it with my little boy yet – I’m not sure if he’s a bit old now, but I think he’d like making them. Thanks for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Thanks Katy! I love the penguin too:)
Wow, these look wonderful!
Thanks so much!:)
All of them are sooo cute!
Aww thank you!!
Awe, these are so adorable!!
Thanks!!
Very cute indeed. Thanks for sharing with #TriumphantTales, hope to see you again tomorrow.
Thanks Jaki!
These are lovely. I think it’s great that each character features a heart shape face. #bloggerclubuk
Thanks Helena! They were fun to make:)
I used to make finger puppets when I was a kid and again when I had kids. They are fun little things.
We agree:)
These are the cutest finger puppets, my great grandson would love these!!
Thank you for sharing last week on OMHGW w/Linky I just wanted to let you know your post is being featured this week and is Pinned and will be shared on Instagram.
Please stop by and follow on Instagram heart your post to re-share. And visit to share again!!
Hope you have a great week!
Thanks so much for the feature Karren! We were so excited to see it:)
These are so cute–such a clever idea! Thanks for sharing at Party in Your PJs!
Thanks Donna:)
These are so cute! I love that they can make them and then play with them. My girls would love it. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Thanks Laura! Hope you guys had a great Valentines Day!:)
So cute & fun for Valentine’s Day Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Sharing
Thanks Theresa! Hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day:)
Super cute! Will have to try this with my kids:-)
Thanks Christie:)
So cute! Amazing how you made all those animals out of a basic heart shape. Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned!
Aww thanks Teresa! It was fun to make:)
I remember making sock puppet for my children! Kids remember and value things their mom made for them!
Aww that is sweet of you to say!
How absolutely adorable!! Thanks for sharing this with us at the Homestead Blog Hop!
Aww thanks Ann!
Wow these are soooo cute! I’m amazed that you managed to make so many different animals with a heart-shaped base! I’m bookmarking this! #sharingthebloglove
Thanks for the sweet compliments Lucy:)
These are adorable, Eileen! My daughter has been really into putting on puppet shows for us lately (with full hand size puppets), so I bet she would LOVE these. And what a fun craft to do together. 🙂 Love it!
Aww thanks so much, Amy! Yesss puppet shows are so fun! 🙂
CUTEST. FINGER PUPPETS. EVER!!! Guess what I’ll be doing with our kiddo tonight?! 🙂