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There are some craft staples that are always good idea to keep around – and popsicle sticks are one of them! My mom gave us a huge pack of popsicle sticks several years back, and we’re always finding fun ways to use them for crafts. I think it may be one of those Mary Poppin’s bag type things, though, because no matter how many my boys use up, it seems like the bag is perpetually full.
One of our go-to popsicle stick crafts is puppets. They are an easy craft for kids to make on their own, and a fun toy to play with afterward. It’s fun to see the creative stories they come up with!
Today I have some fun little monster puppets (and a car, too) for your kiddos to enjoy. I’ve had several teachers and librarians email me about how they’ve used printable crafts on the site. Because of both it’s simplicity and interactive nature, it’s a great craft to use in a classroom or library – and I included have a list of book recommendations at the end to go along with this craft at the end of the post!
Materials
-Craft sticks – you can go with plain craft sticks like we did, or get colorful ones like these.
-Glue
-Crayons
-Printable monster puppets – click here to download and print them out.
I recommend printing these on cardstock if you can so that they hold up well, but regular paper will work just fine, too!
Color the puppets (or keep them black and white if you’d like!).
Cut out the monsters and their car.
Glue each of the puppets onto a popsicle stick.
Now your kiddos are ready to play!
Books to Enjoy with This Craft
When I can, I love matching books up to go along with the crafts we do. Here are some great books to go along with our little stick puppet friends:
The Monster at the End of This Book – I loved this book as a kid, and it’s one I hear brought up a lot when people talk about their favorite books from childhood. It never fails to get some laughs out of my kids.
We haven’t read Monsters Love Underpants yet (it’s on the ever-growing list of ones to get at the library), but the boys enjoyed Aliens Love Underpants and I anticipate that they’ll love this one, too.
I’ve talked before about how much our boys love Have You Seen my Dragon? – and this a follow up book by Steve Light called Have You Seen My Monster? that we love!
This isn’t a book, but we love this free reading program! Our boys just play for free on the computer, but they also have an ipad app available. It’s fun, very interactive, and has helped my oldest a lot in his reading. They have it set up so it’s very easy to use in the classroom as well.
