Print and Craft the Cutest Animal Alphabet Puppets! * Moms and Crafters

Gorgeous digitally illustrated Alphabet animals make the cutest alphabet puppets and a sweet craft for preschoolers! Find more printable puppets here! This post contains affiliate links.

In this post (click to skip to the correct section):

Some projects start with a vision and then spiral out of control.

These ABC animals started with the idea to create some alphabet puppets. They had to be animals so that they become more natural feeling characters.

It took many many hours to illustrate these, and then to color them digitally, so that y’all can choose which version you want:

Full color
Color-in
Or even a coloring book layout for those who just want the alphabet animals and don’t want puppets!

And then I started creating more cool stuff with these illustrations but you’ll have to wait for that (although you can feel free to hit me up if you have an idea and want it sooner – I may just rush it!)

Get and Print your animal alphabet puppets below!

Just click on the image of the one you’d like and it’ll take you right to the product page. Scroll down for instructions.

How to assemble the alphabet puppets:

All instructions are included with the puppets in printable form as well. Each puppet purchase includes both a multi-page PDF with the puppets to use in a printer and hand-cut, and a ZIP folder with transparent background puppets in layouts sized to work with Cricut cutting machines.

Other materials needed:

White printer card stock
Craft sticks. I recommend jumbo ones, and if you want it to be really neat and easy, go for self-adhesive like I did. If not, add glue 🙂
Markers, crayons, etc (line art version)
Scissors (if cutting by hand)
(Optional) Cricut cutting machine and the included blue mat
(Optional)Cricut basic tool set
Printer

1. Print the PDF file on card stock. Cut them out (or do it after you color).

2. Color them in if you’re working with the line art version. Skip this step if you purchased the full color alphabet puppets only.

3. Glue or stick on craft sticks to turn them into puppets.

Now put on a show!

How to cut them using a Cricut cutting machine:

1. Extract your files to an unzipped folder. On most newer PCs you can do this simply by moving them to a new folder.

2. Open Cricut Design Space. Open a new project. Click “upload” and choose the first image from your computer. Choose “complex” as your image type then click “continue”. Don’t worry about erasing any part of the image (the background is already removed on these). Choose “save as a print then cut image” and save.

3. Repeat this process for all the included images, select them, and “insert images”.

4. Resize each image to a maximum of 6.75 inches wide or 9.25 inches high. The 4-5 puppet layout on each image was designed having in mind an ideal size for puppets and to make the project layout easier for you. You can make them smaller too.

5. Once your have your puppets laid out, disable each layer, leaving only one enabled at a time. Go through the print then cut process on card stock, following the machine prompts as you go along.Repeat for each image you uploaded.

6. You’ll notice that your printer adds a black box around your puppets. That’s “registration marks” that your Cricut scans to see where to cut.

My Cricut Explore Air 2 did a fantastic – actually GORGEOUS – job cutting these, without the typical strain on my hands. This was a game changer in paper crafting for me and my crafting stress injuries.

Tip: use a spatula from the Cricut Basic Tool Set as well as the weeding tool to help you remove unwanted parts. Try pulling the mat away from the puppets so that they don’t curl up (but if they do, it’s easy to flatten them.)

Directory of Alphabet Animals:

A is for Alligator
B is for Bear
C is for Cat
D is for Dog
E is for Elephant
F is for Fox
G is for Goat
H is for Horse
I is for Iguana
J is for Jellyfish
K is for Koala
L is for Lion
M is for Monkey
N is for Narwhal
O is for Octopus
P is for Peacock
Q is for Quokka
R is for Rhinocerous
S is for Snail
T is for Tiger
U is for Umbrellabird
V is for Vulture
W is for Whale
X is for X-ray Fish (X-ray Tetra)
Y is for Yak
Z is for Zebra

More about the full color alphabet puppets:

The full color alphabet puppets started out as line art, and then I added a colored layer digitally. This means that I painted it by hand using a smart pen in my Surface Pro tablet. So it retains the hand-made feel.

The colors are bright and vivid, imaginative while retaining a certain level of realism for kids to truly learn about animals and the alphabet.

The full-color alphabet puppets are the perfect tool for creating an easy DIY paper toy, and for classroom teaching. Self-adhesive jumbo craft sticks make these a cinch to assemble (but you can use any…)

Here are some more photos: