Chinese Dragon Puppet
January 23, 2012 is Chinese New Year and this year is the Year of the Dragon. What could be more fun than creating your own dragon to celebrate.
Supplies
Plastic cups
Card rolls
String
Glue stick
Dragon head picture (below)
Stick to tie the dragon to (eg satay skewer or chopstick)
Streamers or coloured paper strips
Instructions
1. Punch a hole into the base of each plastic cup by placing a blob of plasticine or wall tac under the cup and pushing a pencil through the bottom.
2. Cut the card rolls into pieces about 5cm long
3. Tie a large knot into the string and thread it into the cup and out the bottom.
4. Next thread on a piece of card roll.
5. Repeat with cups and card rolls until it reaches the desired length. Tie a large knot in the end of the string to secure the cups.
6. Draw and colour a dragon head or use one of the images provided below.
7. Cut out the heads and stick them to either side of the first cup.
8. Cut the streamers or coloured paper into lengths of approximately 30cm. Glue or tape the streamers along the length of the dragon’s body.
9. Punch a hole into the top of the head cup.
10. Punch another hole into a cup toward the end of the dragon’s body. (About 4th from the end)
11. Attach string from the holes to either end of the stick. Use the stick to manoeuvre the dragon puppet.
Use a photocopier to enlarge or shrink the dragon headsto fit your cup size.
This craft is reprinted courtesy of Jellyfish Jelly.
You might also enjoy making some of these crafts:
Patterns, Templates and Printables
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Other Images
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Contributor
Jellyfishjelly is the work of Miya Maeda."My work is intended to be a simple guide for non-crafty, “creatively-challenged” parents. The concept behind this site arose from what I perceived to be the near universal need for parents of small children to find novel and challenging activities to occupy what can sometimes seem like a very long day."
This sounds like a lot of fun. One question, what is a card roll?
Not quite sure, but it may be a cardboard tube to act as a spacer between the cups.