Clothespin Paper Puppets – free printable

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Make these sweet, colorful, and quirky paper puppets using clothespins – aren’t they precious? M had the time of his life holding a conversation between the two…  You can get really creative with these and then use the leftovers to make dozens more clothespin crafts. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate ads.

I thought it would be cool to make some quirky character puppets out of clothespins, so that you can open and close the mouth by pinching the clothespin. I must have drawn the template five times before I realized that I need to do a profile view instead of a front view…

Once I had it figured out, it came out really cute. I love a craft where you can get creative and add your own touch. Besides for choosing which colors you make these paper puppets, you can also pick the wildest hair colors, add accessories like googly eyes and small pompom noses… the possibilities are endless!

The hair is made similarly to how you’d make a pompom but you just wrap the yarn fewer times, so that it doesn’t puff into a circle. On the purple-haired puppet, I wrapped three fingers but tied it 1/3 of the way through instead of halfway so that you have “long” hair. On the others I did it mostly midway so that there’s  a puff of hair on top.

I colored the paper puppets using STABILO Power markers. I chose for the most part unrealistic colors for the faces and noses, to give it a fun character/monster vibe. M really had fun holding fake conversations between them!

You can make the puppets two-sided if you want (I did with the orange-haired and the blue-faced ones). I included opposite-facing profiles for you in case you want to do that, but you will need to wait for one side to dry before moving on to the next.

These paper puppets really ignite the imagination – I hope you’ll enjoy them!

Download the paper clothespin puppets templates below:

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What you need to make paper puppets from clothespins:

• The template printed on card stock
• Clothespins
• Markers
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Glue – I recommend Alene’s Tacky Glue or Elmer’s craft wood glue.
• Optional: googly eyes

How to make quirky clothespin paper puppets:

Watch the video tutorial below, or scroll down for step-by-step instructions:

1. Color your faces.

2. Cut out your faces.

3. Cut across the line that splits the face in half.

4. Create your hair! Wind some yarn around 2-3 fingers. Snip a small piece and tie it around the bundle of yarn in the center (or off-center). Pull tight.

Cut the loops open on both sides of  your “pom pom”.

5. Glue your hair to the top of your face.

6.  Add googly eyes and other fun stuff if you want.

7. Put it together! Glue the top of the face to the top half of your clothespin. Glue the bottom to the bottom half. Make sure you don’t glue the clothespin closed. Hold it in place until it starts sticking.

Now, put on a show!

Aren’t these paper puppets fun? I love this spin on clothespin crafts and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too!

If you haven’t downloaded these paper puppets yet, you can download them here:

 

Want more cool kids crafts? Check out these ideas!

Find more printable puppets – including clothespin puppets!

I hope you enjoyed these paper puppets! What is your favorite way to craft with clothespins? Comment below!

Clothespin Paper Puppets

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: Less than $1

These clothespin puppets make a fun craft for preschoolers through big kids. Use it for dramatic play, to exercise fine motor skills, or just make it for fun!

Print

Materials

• Clothespins
• Markers
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Glue
• Optional: googly eyes

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