My finger puppet crafts are some of the most popular on Craft Jr., especially this Halloween puppet set – one of my personal favorites, too!

Related Pages: Owl Crafts, Fall Pumpkin Decorations, Giraffe Sock Puppet

Fall Kids Crafts - Scarecrow, Squirrel, Owl, Raccoon and Autumn Tree Finger Puppets

Fall Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

How to Make These Fall Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Fall Scarecrow Finger Puppet

Fall Scarecrow Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full lenth green pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Cut 5 pieces of yellow pipe cleaner for his straw ‘hair’ – make them slightly different lengths between 3/4″ and 1″ inch.

Make the scarecrow hat as shown:

Pipe Cleaner Scarecrow Hat

Cut two 1″ pieces of yellow pipe cleaner for his straw hands – attach them by bending the wire to both ends of a 4″ piece of green pipe cleaner.

It’s easiest to glue the straw hair to the inside of the hat, then glue the hat onto the pom pom head.

Glue the mini red pom pom on for the nose, then glue on the googly eyes. Then glue his head onto the puppet base.

Lastly, slide the scarecrow arms between the finger puppet coils

Cute Squirrel Finger Puppet

Fall Squirrel Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length brown pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Glue a mini black pom pom onto the squirrel face for his nose, and then glue on the googly eyes.

Snip two 3/4 inch pieces of brown pipe cleaner and bend them into a V. Glue them onto the top of the head for the ears.

Bend a 2.5″ piece of pipe cleaner into the form of small front paws – here’s a closeup:

Squirrel (and same for the Raccoon) Paws

This picture is actually the paws upside down – simply slip the U – end in between the puppet base coils near the top

For the squirrel tail , use varied-width pipe cleaners and clip off one section, leaving the narrow part a little longer on one end. You’ll use this extra length to attach it to the back of the finger puppet base.

Lastly, glue his head onto the puppet base.

Snow Owl Finger Puppet

Snow Owl Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length white pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base. NOTE: For some strange reason, this owl looks much better if he is shorter than the others – I squished my coils together a lot on him.

Bend a short 2-3 inch piece of white pipe cleaner into a tiny figure eight – you’ll probably need to clip off an end.

Cut a small 1″ inch piece of tan pipe cleaner and bend it into a V for the beak.

Glue the figure eight and beak onto the white pom pom, then glue the googly eyes into the centers of each loop of the figure eight.

Bend a 1″inch piece of brown pipe cleaner into a simple U – slide it in between the coils at the bottom for his claws, just letting the ends peek out.

Form the wings with one long white pipe cleaner as shown. Do the same to the other end to form both wings – you’ll again probably have to clip off some excess:

Pipe Cleaner Owl Wings

Slide them in between the puppet base coils, and glue the head onto the puppet base.

Rocky Raccoon Finger Puppet

(This one was my kids’ favorite!)

Fall Raccoon Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length gray pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Bend a short 2-3 inch piece of black pipe cleaner into a tiny figure eight – you’ll probably need to clip off an end.

Snip two 3/4 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them into a V. Glue them onto the top of the pom pom head for the ears. Then glue the figure eight onto the face for his ‘sunglasses’ eyes, gluing the googly eyes into the middle of the loops. Glue a mini pink pom pom into the center for his nose.

Bend a 2.5″ piece of pipe cleaner into the form of small front paws – see the closeup in the squirrel instructions above. Slide it in between the coils.

To make the tail, use a very thin round object (like a bamboo skewer) to wind a black and gray pipe cleaner together as shown:

Pipe Cleaner Raccoon Tail

Leave a bit of straight length at the end so that you can attach the tail to the puppet base.

Autumn Tree Finger Puppet

(This one was my son’s idea!)

Autumn Tree Finger Puppet Craft

First wind the two full length brown pipe cleaners together around your finger tip to form the puppet base.

Glue a mini yellow pom pom onto the larger pom pom face for his nose, and then glue on the googly eyes.

Cut 10-15 pieces of brown pipe cleaner for the branches – make them between 2″ and 3″ inches long. Twist two or three of them together randomly in the shapes of branches.

Glue a medium sized pom pom onto most of the ends of the branches, leaving some empty. These branches can easily get too heavy, so don’t overdo it.

Get a hefty amount of glue onto the other end of the branches and stick it right into the tree head.

More Kids Fall Crafts from Other Great Craft Blogs!

Apple Stamped Cards

Fall Butterfly Craft

Pumpkins on a Popsicle Stick Fence

Fall Nature Wreath

Easy Leaf Glitter Trees

Easy Christmas Kids Crafts - Finger Puppets

I’m kicking off my Christmas in July series this Friday with my infamous finger puppets! I actually made these last December, but got so busy during the Christmas season that I didn’t have time to post them. I admit I really don’t like seeing Christmas stuff in stores in the summer, but I actually saw a Christmas aisle in my local Hobby Lobby at the beginning of JUNE - so technically I’m kind of late, right?!

What’s even stranger is that I’m headed out to the pool when I’m done putting up this post – if you really think hard about Christmas in July, it kind of fries your brain!

Related Pages: Advent Calendar Crafts, Printable Santa Craft, Snowflake Crafts

Christmas Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Christmas critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners (Rudolf also needs the special varied width pipe cleaners for his legs – see photo below)

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

The snowman finger puppet also needs dimensional fabric paint.

How to Make These Christmas Finger Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Finger Puppet

Reindeer Finger Puppet

You will actually need six of those 1.5 inch pieces of gold pipe cleaners!

Wind the finger puppet base.

Twist two sections of gold pipe cleaner around one piece to make each antler. Glue them into the top of the brown pom pom head.

Glue the red mini pom pom and googly eyes onto the face. Gluing the nose first will make gluing those tiny googly eyes a little easier, as they will have something to rest on.

Glue Rudolph’s head onto the puppet body base.

Cut the varied width brown pipe cleaner in half – you will only need one section per set of two legs.

Slide each pair of legs between the body coils.

Christmas Santa Finger Puppet

Santa Craft Finger Puppet

OOPS - materials missing in the photo – a large red glitter pom pom!

Wind the puppet base.

Twist a 5 inch (approx) piece of red pipe cleaner into a cone shape for Santa’s hat. Use a pencil tip like the one in this 4th of July Statue of Liberty finger puppet. Twist two 2.5 inch pieces of white and silver pipe cleaner together, then into a circle for the brim of Santa’s hat. Glue the silver pom pom onto the cone top, and the brim onto the cone bottom, then glue the hat onto the tan pom pom.

Glue his red nose on first, then his googly eyes, and then glue his head onto the red glitter pom pom body. Cut a white pom pom in half for Santa’s beard, and glue it on after the head has been attached, because you need to glue it to both his face and body.

Glue the two tiny back pom poms onto Santa’s ‘coat’.

Glue Santa to the finger puppet base.

Mr. Penguin Finger Puppet

Penguin Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base.

To make Mr. Penguin’s top hat, wind a black pipe cleaner around a pencil as shown. Do the first three rows next to each other, then the next three rows on top of each other:

Pipe Cleaner Top Hats

To make his wings, bend an 8 inch piece of pipe cleaner into kind of a U shape as shown in the picture above.

To make his bow tie, bend a 2.5 inch piece of pipe cleaner into kind of a connected X shape as shown in the picture above.

To make his beak, simply bend a 3/4 inch piece of orange pipe cleaner in half.

Glue the beak onto his pom pom face, then glue on the googly eyes. Next, glue his top hat on.

Glue his head onto the puppet base, then glue his bow tie underneath his head and beak.

Slide his wings in between the body coils and then glue the two medium orange glitter pom poms on the bottom front for his feet.

Frosty the Snowman Christmas Finger Puppet

Christmas Snowman Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet base.

Make the black top hat as shown above on the Mr. Penguin finger puppet craft.

Cut a 1/4 inch piece of orange pipe cleaner for Frosty’s nose.

Glue the three white glitter pom poms together, large, medium then small on top.

Glue the nose onto his face, then his googly eyes. Since the top pom pom is pretty small, you may want to make his eyes with the black fabric paint instead.

Paint three small buttons onto his body (even the mini pom poms are too big for this).

Glue Frosty onto the puppet base.

Christmas Elf Finger Puppet

Christmas Elf Finger Puppet

OOPS - you will also need a 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner for his arms!

Wind the puppet body base. When using glitter pipe cleaners you MUST use two of them for the body base – they are too thin!

Make the elf hat as instructed for Santa’s hat above, using the colors shown here.

Glue the mini pom pom nose and googly eyes onto his pom pom face, then glue on the hat.

Glue his head onto the body base.

Bend the 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner into arms as shown, and slip them in between the body coils.

Glue the two pink mini pom poms onto his body for buttons.

Winter Cardinal Finger Puppet

Winter Cardinal Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base.

Glue the red V shaped feather onto the top of the cardinal’s head, then glue the yellow V shaped beak onto his face.

Glue the googly eyes on top of the beak.

Bend the wings out of a 6 inch piece of red pipe cleaner as shown.

Glue the head onto the body base, and then slide the wings in between the body coils.

Be sure to check out all of our Christmas kids crafts and Christmas kids activities while you are here, too!

Related Pages: Easy 4th of July Wreaths, 4th of July Coloring Pages, Printable 4th of July Bookmarks

4th of July Kids Crafts - Finger Puppets

4th of July Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

How to Make These 4th of July Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

The Statue of Liberty Finger Puppet

Statue of Liberty Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base around your finger.

Make her torch by taking a 2-3 inch piece of glitter green pipe cleaner and winding it around the tip of a sharpened pencil to make a cone shape:

Lady Liberty Torch Assembly

Make Lady Liberty’s crown by forming a green pipe cleaner as shown below. Wrap the end around the rest of the crown to secure the points in place – then clip off the extra on the end.

Lady Liberty Pipe Cleaner Crown

Bend a 6 inch piece of green pipe cleaner into the shape of her arms, and slide it in between the body coils. Bend one up to hold the torch and one curled in front of her.

Glue the torch onto her left hand and then glue the red/orange small pom pom on the top to make it look like a flame. I found a medium sized red glitter pom pom that worked perfectly for this.

Glue the head onto the body.

Glue the green tiny pom pom on the front of the face, then glue the two googly eyes right on top.

American Eagle Finger Puppet

American Eagle Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base around your finger.

Bend a full piece of brown pipe cleaner into the shape of wings as shown.

Slide the wings in between the body coils.

Bend a one inch piece of yellow pipe cleaner in half then curve it a little bit into the shape of a beak.

Glue the white pom pom head onto the eagle body.

Glue the beak and googly eyes onto the eagle’s face

Uncle Sam Finger Puppet

(Note that I also added two tiny white pom poms for buttons on his coat!)

Uncle Sam Finger Puppet

Wind the finger puppet base.

Make Uncle Sam’s top hat with a blue and red pipe cleaner – use the instructions from my Cat in the Hat craft:

Pipe Cleaner Top Hat Instructions

Bend a two and a half inch piece of pipe cleaner into the shape of a bow tie as shown.

Glue his pom pom head onto the puppet body.

Glue the medium white pom pom onto the bottom of his face for his beard.

Glue Uncle Sam’s nose and googly eyes in place.

Glue his top hat onto his head, then glue the bow tie and white buttons onto the front of his coat.

Be sure to check out all of the Woo! Jr. 4th of July kids activities while you are here, too!

Easter Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppets

When I had to idea to create some finger puppets out of pipe cleaners, little did I realize what creativity I would unleash in my children. 3 packages of pipe cleaners later, I have enough different finger puppet ideas for probably 10 more posts! I had no idea these would be such easy crafts for kids.

Pipe cleaners are extremely forgiving and deceptively easy to work with. Anything you ‘mess up’ while bending them is fixable. And by using a hot glue gun, you are pretty much unlimited in how you can attach eyes, limbs, and embellishments.

Check out our Halloween Finger Puppets Craft, too!

What you Need to Make Easter Finger Puppets

Pipe cleaners of various colors

Mini pom poms of various colors and sizes (you can substitute cotton balls sometimes)

Googly eyes

Hot glue gun

Wire cutters

(Our local Dollar Store had great cheap coordinating sets of pipe cleaners with matching pom poms)

How to Make Easter Finger Puppets

Once you see the components of each of these pipe cleaner finger puppets, assembly is pretty self-explanatory. But here’s the key “puppet base” that they are all made from:

Finger Puppet Base

Step 1 is to take the pipe cleaner and wrap it around your finger. I like to do it rather tightly, because once it is off of your finger, it is easier to stretch it out than it is to tighten it up.

Important: Notice that the top of the pipe cleaner coils down to a smaller circle. Do this so that it is easier to glue the pom pom head on top, and to lessen the possibility that you will get the hot glue on your fingers (which, if it hasn’t happened to you yet, pray that it doesn’t. OMG.)

Here are the pieces of each of the pipe cleaner finger puppets shown above. I was skeptical whether the hot glue would work on some of these pieces, but it worked perfectly. Just put a tiny dab of glue onto the wire end of the pipe cleaner and stick it straight down into the pom pom – it will stick after just a second or two of holding it in place.

Easter Bunny Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Easter Bunny Finger Puppet

After gluing the white head onto the pipe cleaner body, stick a dab of glue onto both wire ends on one of the bent pipe cleaner ears. Stick them firmly into the pom pom while squeezing the ends together.

Glue two tiny white pom poms on the face as a base to stick the googly eyes. This is really optional, and you can see on the kitten finger puppet below that you can also just glue the googly eyes directly onto the pom pom head.

Then glue on the pink nose and the medium sized pink pom pom for the tail.

Easter Chick Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Easter Chick Finger Puppet

After gluing the white head onto the pipe cleaner body, clip a tiny piece of orange pipe cleaner and bend it into a V shape, and glue it onto the middle of the face. Glue the two yellow mini pom poms right above the beak to make a base for the googly eyes, then glue them on top of them. Take about a 4 inch piece of extra yellow pipe cleaner and bend it into the wing shape as shown. You don’t even need to glue these in, just slip them onto the body in between the coils and they will stay put.

Spring Kitten Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Spring Kitten Finger Puppet

After gluing the white head onto the pipe cleaner body, clip two small pieces of white pipe cleaner (about 3/4″ long) and bend them into a V. Glue them onto the top of the head. I skipped the extra tiny pom pom eye base on this one, wanting to go for a more “Hello Kitty” look. You only need one tiny pink pom pom for the nose, but here’s a little tip: if you don’t have a tiny pom pom to use, you can clip a tiny piece of pink pipe cleaner (less than 1/4″ long) and glue it onto the face instead. The tail is attached by bending it onto the bottom coil on the back of the kitten’s pipe cleaner body.

Bluebird Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Spring Bluebird Finger Puppet

To make this variance on the Easter chick, I omitted the mini pom pom base for the eyes, and added a little tuft of feathers on the top of the head the same way I did the kitten’s ears (but only added one and put it on lengthwise instead of sideways). The wings are also a slightly simpler version of the yellow wings, and might be easier for smaller children to bend on their own.

Related pages: Truffula Trees craft, The Lorax activities, Dr. Seuss Activities

Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat Craft

Cat in the Hat Finger Puppets Materials

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each finger puppet. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

Also, to make the Cat in the Hat’s whiskers, you need a small 3 inch piece of black thread

General Finger Puppet Craft Instructions

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Cat in the Hat Finger Puppet

Cat in the Hat Finger Puppet Craft

For the Cat in the Hat, you’ll need 2 red pipe cleaners, one white, and two black (the black used together to make the finger puppet base). Plus a 4 inch black piece bent as shown to make the arms.

First, wind the puppet base with the two black pipe cleaners.

Then make the Cat in the Hat hat (say that three times fast!):

Pipe Cleaner Seuss Hat

First you’ll wind a red and white pipe cleaner around your finger to make the top, then after three turns, start winding them together to make the brim. The wire is so easy to work with and so forgiving, don’t worry if it seems to come out all wonky – it’s super easy to fix into whatever shape you want. To make the top of the hat, simply coil the top pipe cleaner piece a little smaller as shown in the last photo in the series above.

Glue the hat to the white pom pom.

Bend two small black pieces of pipe cleaner as shown for ears, and glue them to the sides of the head just below the hat.

Cut the thread into two 1 1/2 inch pieces, and glue them to the back of the tiny black nose pom pom. This is a little tricky because both are so small – younger children might need help with this part.

Glue the nose to the middle of the front of the cat face.

Glue the googly eyes right above the nose.

Glue the head to the puppet base.

Slide the cat’s arms in between the coils of the puppet base body.

Tie a ‘bow’ with a red pipe cleaner around the neck, and use your wire cutters to trim the extra length of the ends off.

Thing One and Thing Two Finger Puppets

Thing One and Thing Two Finger Puppets Craft

The materials shown will make both of these puppets – 4 red pipe cleaners plus two sets of arms bent as shown, two 2 inch pieces of white pipe cleaners, two white pom poms, one turquoise pom pom, 4 googly eyes, two tiny light blue pom poms.

Wind the puppet base with two red pipe cleaners coiled together.

Find the middle of the blue pom pom and snip it in half with your wire clippers or scissors:

Thing One and Thing Two Hair

Pull them apart very carefully so that the two sides stay intact. Quickly put a LOT of glue onto the blue hair and get it on top of the white pom pom head – otherwise the fuzzies will fly everywhere and make your nose itch.

Glue the nose onto the face and the googly eyes on top of the nose.

Slide the arms in between the coils of the puppet base body.

Coil the small white pipe cleaner into a tiny circle, and glue it to the front of the puppet body

Glue the head to the puppet body.

More Finger Puppet Crafts

Easter finger puppets

Halloween finger puppets – and more of them

Thanksgiving finger puppets

Alien finger puppets

The other day I was working on putting together some space crafts for Space Jr., and needed one more project to make the rows of project photographs even (how’s that for an excuse to stop working and start crafting?!). So for lunch I watched Martha Stewart and made pipe cleaner aliens. It was a good lunch!!

Easy Alien Pipe Cleaner Crafts

The absolute BEST part of making pipe cleaner aliens is that there are no rules and anything goes.

Only have one googly eye? Great!
Do your colors mismatch? Even better!
Is one arm longer than the other?! Perfecto!!

When I made some of these with my kids last year, they went crazy with it, pretty much wiping me out of pipe cleaners and pom poms. Aliens are the perfect fun kids craft because they simply can’t mess up an alien. We totally make them up as we go along, using whatever we have laying around the house.

But if you want to make my alien family as shown above – keep reading!

Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each alien. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms of various sizes, and glitter pom poms are especially galactically good.

Googly Eyes of various sizes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

Make Pipe Cleaner Aliens

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions. It gives general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

And by the way, you can thank aBooks for the awesome list of alien names!

Girly Usura Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Girly Usura Alien Pipe Cleaner Finger Puppet

Wind the purple finger puppet base.

Bend a piece of purple pipe cleaner as shown to make the arms. Slip it in between the base coils pushing from front to back to stick them in place.

Glue the straight long silver pipe cleaner to the front, adding two mini pink pom poms for ‘buttons’ (hey, even aliens need to suffer for fashion!).

Glue two small silver pom poms to the top of the pink pom pom as the base for the googly eyes.

Glue the googly eyes to the silver pom poms and attach the last mini pink pom pom for the nose while you are at it.

Coil the last silver pipe cleaner around a pencil to make the antenna.

Glue one end into the top of Usura’s head, and glue another purple glittery pom pom on the top to make her look pretty!

Glue the head to the body.

Kitschy Ichzo Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

Kitschy Ichzo Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

Evidence I can’t count: In addition to the materials shown above, I also used a small silver glitter pom pom for Ichzo’s nose.

Wind the pipe cleaner puppet base – it is very helpful with glitter pipe cleaners to use two instead of one!

Glue two dark red small pom poms to the ends of a 3 inch silver pipe cleaner for the hands and arms.

Slip the arms in between the base coils from front to back so that the arms are poking out of the back sides of the body.

Glue two medium dark red pom poms onto the large red glitter pom pom for the base of the eyes. Glue the small silver pom pom underneath them for the nose.

Slightly bend the two small pieces of blue glitter pipe cleaner and glue them onto the tops of the eyes for eyebrows (very Oscar the Grouch-ish, don’t you think?).

Glue two small googly eyes onto the two medium dark red pom poms.

Glue the head to the body.

Oh-So-Lovely Ophpha Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

Oh-So-Lovely Ophpha Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

More Evidence I can’t count: you only need 2 mini pink pom poms to make Ophpha, not 3. Jeesh.

Wind the pink pipe cleaner puppet base – this time twist the top coils a little bit more to make her slender neck (that’s the Oh-So-Lovely part).

Glue two mini brown pom poms to the front of her body for buttons.

Glue two glittery orange small pom poms onto the ends of two 3 inch orange pipe cleaners for the hands and arms.

Slide the arms in between the coils and bend them up and down into the shape of an “X”.

Glue the googly eye onto the small orange pom pom.

Glue two mini pink pom poms onto the ends of 1 inch silver pipe cleaners to make the antenna. Glue them to the head.

Glue the head to the body.

ZOMG George Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

ZOMG George Alien Pipe Cleaner Craft

Coil the pipe cleaner finger puppet base. Again, when using glitter pipe cleaners, use TWO instead of one!

Glue the mini yellow pom poms onto the ends of a 4 inch green glitter pipe cleaner.

Slide it in between the body coils and bend the arms up.

Glue the small green glitter pom pom onto the middle of the large silver pom pom to make the nose.

Make zig-zag bends into two 1.5 inch bright green pieces of pipe cleaner.

Glue the googly eyes onto one end, gluing the other end into the top of the head.

Glue the head to the body.

For more fun crafts, check out these recycled crafts, teen crafts or these fairy tale crafts!

The first set of puppets have been extremely popular. You might also like these pumpkin decorating ideas, my guide to carving artificial pumpkins, this owl crafts roundup and our big collection of Halloween printables!

Halloween Costume Finger Puppets

Halloween Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Halloween Critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms (The pumpkin puppet uses a larger pom pom than the others)

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

For Dracula – scraps of black fabric

For Princess and Fairy - a small amount of white tulle (less than 1/8 yard) and for each one small plastic rhinestone ‘gem’

Making Halloween Finger Puppets

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions. It gives general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Halloween Fairy Finger Puppet

Fairy Finger Puppet

Cut 5 pink pieces of pipe cleaner about 1.5 inches long, and bend them into a “U” shape as shown.

Cut two green pieces of pipe cleaner about 1 inch long and bend them in half as shown to resemble flower leaves.

Cut a piece of white tulle into a long oval for the fairy wings, approximately 6-7 inches wide. To attach the wings, simply tie them to one of the coils on the back of the pipe cleaner finger puppet base.

Tulle fairy wings

Glue the pink petals around the white pom pom in the shape of a flower, then add the flowers behind the petals:

Cut one piece of white pipe cleaner about 3-4 inches long and bend it as shown for the arms. Then cut a piece of silver pipe cleaner as long as you want your fairy wand to be. Twist tie the end of the wand to one of the ‘hands’.

Fairy Finger Puppet Craft Assembly

Glue the plastic gem to the end of the wand, then glue the googly eyes and nose to the pom pom face. Then glue the rest of the fairy finger puppet parts together.

Dracula Halloween Finger Puppet

Dracula Finger Puppet

Cut a fabric triangle out of black fabric for Dracula’s cape as shown – you can be imprecise, it doesn’t need to be perfect!Cut off the top corner as shown.

Cut a teardrop shaped piece of black fabric to glue on top of Dracula’s head for his hair. Glue it onto the pom pom with the point in front – this can be a little tricky and an adult’s help might be needed.

Glue the googly eyes onto Dracula’s face.

Glue the top of the cape to the top of the red pipe cleaner finger puppet base, then glue the head on top.

Once the glue is dry, draw a tiny black line for Dracula’s mouth. Then put two tiny white vertical lines at the corners of his mouth to make his fangs.

Frankenstein Halloween Finger Puppet

Frankenstein Finger Puppet

Cut a 4 inch piece of green pipe cleaner for the arms and bend it as shown.

Cut two tiny pieces of black pipe cleaner to resemble the bolts on the sides of Frankenstein’s neck.

Glue the two black bolts to the sides of the pom pom, then glue the googly eyes in place.

Glue the rest of the parts in place.

When the glue is dry, paint black hair onto Frankenstein’s head and a sewn-up mouth with the black fabric paint.

Ignore the green paint and tiny green pom pom in the picture. I don’t know what I was thinking. :-)

Halloween Princess Finger Puppet

Halloween Princess Finger Puppet

Cut a piece of yellow pipe cleaner just over 2 inches long and shape it into a crown as shown:

Halloween Princess Crown

Cut 8 pieces of white tulle about one inch wide by 4-5 inches long:

Tulle Princess Skirt

Make your pipe cleaner finger puppet base and tie the pieces of tulle around the bottom coil of the finger puppet:

Princess Finger Puppet Skirt

Glue the triangle plastic rhinestone onto the top point of the crown, then glue the crown onto the pom pom head. Then glue on the googly eyes and assemble the parts.

We hope you love all of the Halloween activities from our Woo! Jr. Network sites!

Halloween Kids Crafts Finger Puppets

When I first launched Craft Jr earlier this year, I put together a set of Easter finger puppet crafts, and they were a huge hit. So I’ve decided to make it a tradition to create pipe cleaner finger puppets for every major holiday (wait till you see the turkey one for Thanksgiving – sooo cute!!). I got so carried away last weekend with making this set of Halloween finger puppets that I ended up with too many to fit into one post! So here is the “Halloween Critters” edition, and next week I’ll add here is the “Halloween Costumes” finger puppet collection.

Halloween Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Halloween Critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners

Pom Poms (The pumpkin puppet uses a larger pom pom than the others)

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

The jack o’ lantern finger puppet also needs fabric paint (no matter how hard I tried to make the face with other materials, it just looked l.a.m.e.)

How to Make These Halloween Finger Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Halloween Spider Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Spider Finger Puppet Craft

Cut black pipe cleaners into 8 pieces about 1 1/2 inch long

Wind the purple finger puppet base

Bend the legs in half slightly and attach 4 on each side to the black pom pom

Glue the small purple pom poms onto the feet of each leg

Glue the spider to the finger puppet base

Glue the googly eyes in place

Halloween Black Cat Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Black Cat Finger Puppet Craft

This is just like the spring kitten finger puppet with black materials

Cut two 1 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them in a “V” for the ears

Bend a 2 1/2 – 3 inch piece of black pipe cleaner into a lopsided “S” for the tail

Wind the finger puppet base

Glue the ears onto the top of the head, and then add the eyes and nose on the front of the face

Glue the head onto the finger puppet base

Attach the tail to the rear end of the black cat by simply bending one end of it around the bottom coil of the finger puppet base

Halloween Vampire Bat Finger Puppet Craft

Halloween Vampire Bat Finger Puppet Craft

Cut two 1 inch pieces of black pipe cleaner and bend them in a “V” for the ears

Bend a full piece of black pipe cleaner into the bat wings shape as shown

Pull the ends of the wings pipe cleaner into the middle “V” and wrap them around each other as shown in this image:

How to Make Bat Wings

Wind the finger puppet base

Glue the ears onto the top of the head, and then add the eyes  on the front of the face

Glue the head onto the finger puppet base

Glue the wings onto the back of the bat, or slip them in between the puppet base coils to hold them in place

Halloween Jack O’ Lantern Finger Puppet

Halloween Pumpkin Finger Puppet Craft

Strangely, what should have been the easiest puppet to make turned out to be the hardest to get looking right. There just wasn’t enough room on medium pom poms to make a good pumpkin face. So then I went to the store again to get big orange pom poms. These gave me the surface needed for the pumpkin face, but the size made them much harder to work with. You’ll notice that the finger puppet base on this one is different than the others – instead of winding the top coil slightly tighter, I ended up leaving a ‘post’ at the top to give the larger pom pom added support for the glue to hold.

I swear this dang pumpkin puppet is my fourth or fifth try – I even started experimenting with it back in April to no avail!

Cut a 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner and bend it into the shape of a pumpkin stem as shown

Wind the finger puppet base leaving a ‘post’ on top to support the large size pom pom

Glue the stem onto the top of the large orange pom pom, and glue the pom pom onto the finger puppet base. Because the large pom pom is so much more fluffy than the medium ones, you really need to hold it in place until the glue sets.

Paint a jack o’ lantern face onto the pom pom with black dimensional fabric paint

More Halloween Kids Crafts

Check out these Halloween handprint crafts, Halloween paper bag crafts, Halloween treat ideas and our Halloween coloring pages, too!