Hello,
I am trying to make some puppets for my 14 yr. old son that wants to use puppetry to reach children about drug awareness. He is in a program called Police Explorers that starts training them to be future law enforcement officers. His goal is to go around to the schools and libraries with the officers when they speak to children about drugs.
I have thought of purchasing a puppet for him but can't afford the prices as we are a one income family. So this is why I am resulting in the attempt of making one for him.

Drug awareness is really important to him as his older brother has become a victim of drugs so he wants to do all he can to talk to children about drugs and what they do. We feel puppets will reach the children better than someone just standing there talking to them.

I have never made a puppet and have been doing a lot of research on the process.

I really like the puppets at puppetsbrazil but have a few questions. Can these type of puppets be covered with fleece/cloth?
Has anyone hear created this type of puppets and covered it with cloth with good results?

We really like the cloth covered look and hoped we could find someone that has done this and possible give us pointers on if it could be done with this pattern and look nice.

We also like the way some puppets have the cloth neck attached to the head this way the head can be turn back and forth well. How is this attached?

Also we need ideas on a good funny character to create....anyone have a brain storm and wants to help we would love some ideas on a puppet character to create.

Thank you for your help and you all here on this forum have some really nice puppets!

Here is a puppet I made using the Nice Braga pattern, which I covered with fleece. The foam for the head is a wide rectangle with arcs to bring the back of the head together. For the fleece, I used the same pattern, but added about three inches to the height of the rectangle, in order to be able to bring the mouth end of the fleece into the mouth to glue it down. That's a little extra fleece, but you can trim off the extra.

I didn't widen the fleece pattern, I made sure that the width of the rectangle was the stretchable direction of the fleece. That way I was able to avoid heavy wrinkles around the corners of the mouth.

I used 3M Super 77 spray glue to firmly attach the fleece to the foam. This also helped minimize any wrinkles.

The neck is just a tube of the same kind of fleece, with the same diameter as the opening at the bottom of the head. The tube is long enough to reach to the bottom of the body, and is hot glued to the inside of the bottom of the body.

I hope this makes some sense.

What a wonderful thing your son is trying to do. I wish him the best.

Here's a quick sketch (not to scale) of what I am talking about, relating to the size and shape of the fleece and the foam for the head.

Thank you so much for this info. I think I get what you are saying. I am hoping to cut my foam out this afternoon. I will keep you posted on how it comes out.

I was just looking at the Barbara Dewey pattern someone posted. One thing I am not clear on is the head pattern. There is a cut in the back of the head. Is this where you will insert your hand if not then why the cut in the back of the head?   Note: I just went and watched her video again and figured out the cut is so the head will move back and forth.


We are hoping to make at least 3 puppets for this drug awareness project. So trying to get all three to have a different look by using different patterns.

Under my logo picture on the left you will see a YouTube button that will bring you to my site and you will see many video's on making a puppet from scratch....also http://www.blogtv.com/People/stiqpuppetslive  this link will show you more videos on the making of a puppet from scratch to finish.....I still have to transfer them over to my utube account which I have someone doing bit by bit (thanks nlace2/alphers).....I hope that you enjoy them and at least get an understanding about covering puppets and other stuff.  If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Daryl H

Here is the Brazil puppet pattern
http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php?action=gallery&g2_itemId=6357

Here is Barbara Deweys videos
http://www.youtube.com/user/BarbaraDewey#p/u/1/CNI2nIqy89Q

billy D.

I think what your son wants to do is wonderful. I too have a son that is a victim of drugs. It is a very sad thing. I think whatever we can do to help kids know what a horrible thing drugs are is a great thing. I wish you much luck with your puppet making. I am sure that you will be able to make a wonderful puppet. Good luck.