If you spend a lot of time with kids, you know how much they love puppets! These pipe cleaner puppets offer plenty of opportunity for little ones to unleash their creativity.

In my opinion, finger puppets are even better. If your little ones enjoy putting on a puppet show, you will enjoy making these pipe cleaner puppets with them.

You can play with the colors of pipe cleaners you use, along with the shapes you make. These adorable puppets are made with just pipe cleaners, pom poms, scissors, glue, and googly eyes.

Supplies You’ll Need

• 12″ long pipe cleaners*
• Scissors
• Pom poms large – 1″ wide
• Strong craft glue
• Googly eyes

*In my opinion, the longer the better. Long pipe cleaners offer more opportunity to be creative with different options!

How to Make Pipe Cleaner Puppets

Step 1. Wrap the pipe cleaner around your finger (or your child’s finger). Be sure to wrap it tightly.

This is so that you have an idea of sizing.

Step 2. Take the pipe cleaner off your finger (or your child’s finger).

Step 3. Bend the remaining end of the pipe cleaner into a loop. The looped end should be facing upwards.

As you can see, this will be your puppet’s ear.

Step 4. Bend the other side in the same way. Form a loop to make the puppet’s other ear.

Step 5. This picture shows another idea of how you can form the ears.

Step 6. It is fun to play with the pipe cleaners. You can bend them this way and that way to make different looking ears.

Step 7. Don’t these oval shaped ears look super cute? They would be perfect for a monkey!

Step 8. Have a good time being creative (and getting a little bit silly with your kiddo) as you form your puppet’s ears.

Step 9. This picture shows how you could make an alien creature with a pipe cleaner. Make one big loop and wrap the loose end around the pipe cleaner so that nothing is hanging.

Step 10. To complete your alien, cut the loop in the middle to form antennae.

Step 11. If you are making an alien, roll each loose end a little bit to complete the antennae.

Step 12. I hope you had a blast creating different creatures with your pipe cleaners! Now, it is time to glue on the head.

Add some glue to the pipe cleaner and attach the head. I have used strong craft glue, so I had to wait several minutes for it to dry.

 If you don’t want to wait, you could always use a hot glue gun instead.

Step 13. Be sure to wait until the glue is dry. For me, this was about 10 minutes.

Step 14. Start adding two small dots of glue to the pom pom for your eyes.

Step 15. Attach your eyes firmly.

Step 16. Your adorable finger puppet is ready to play!

Watch How to Make

How Long Do These Puppets Take to Make?

You will be able to put these finger puppets together quickly. It should only take 5-10 minutes to make one.

Keep in mind that you will have to wait for the glue to dry. Depending on the type of glue, this could take 10-15 minutes.

Factoring in time for the glue to dry, your finger puppet should be completed in 20-25 minutes. It doesn’t take much time to make these, but you can bet that your kids will play with them for hours!

More Crafts Like This

• DIY Paper Spider
• Pipe Cleaner Butterflies
• Pipe Cleaner Flowers
• Pipe Cleaner Bracelets
• Rainbow Popsicle Stick Craft