St. Patrick's Day Puppet!!!

One of the things that I have wanted to do with this blog is share some of my art projects. As a mental health therapist and art therapist working with children, I do tons and tons of art. Children generally don't use talk therapy the same way that adults do. I will often use art as a way of communicating. When a child is just sitting in front of me and I ask him questions, more than likely he will not answer me... but if I have him make a Leprechaun puppet and I ask him questions (Or better yet, if ask the Leprechaun) I get a ton of useful information!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I would share my Leprechaun Puppet template.

What you need for this project:

• Scissors
• A paper lunch bag
• Crayons, Markers, or Colored Pencils
• Glue
• The 2 Leprechaun PDF Templates click Head & Body

Okay.. so this puppet is pretty basic.

1. Have your child color the puppet first. I find that when kids color before they cut things out, it is a lot easier for them. They don't have to worry too much about staying in the lines - since it will be cut out anyway.
2. Cut out the puppet. Most of the kids I work with will need help with this step.
   
3. You will be gluing your head and body to your paper lunch bag. If you look at the folded lunch bag, the head will be glued on to the small rectangular section on the top of the bag away from the opening. The body will be glued on the bottom portion of the bag, under the head. Remember, you want your leprechaun to be able to talk- so you will not be gluing it to the flat, unfolded side of the bag. You can take a look at my picture to get a better understanding of what I am talking about (for some reason this step is hard for me to explain!)
4. Ta da! You are now puppet enabled. This is the fun part- I love interviewing puppets. I can get kids to tell me all kinds of things when I pretend that I am a news reporter. Plus it promotes creative improvisation on the part of the child.
   

I hope you have fun making Leprechaun Puppets!
Let me know how it goes!