I am working mostly with Pelham ventriloquist puppets.  when they were first sold in the 70s they did not have bodies or legs.  Of course you have to use your own hands.  Later they began to make them with legs.  So 3 of my 4 have no bodies.  Yesterday I bought some Styrofoam noodles and proceeded to cut joints and make legs. They look pretty funny.  Long and straight. There may be dancing if I can master this. I also see the potential for noodle marionette puppets.  Has anyone done this.  They are very inexpensive. I'll post pics when I complete something.

I don't know if anyone has done marionettes out of the noodles but they have been used for black light puppets.  A member also used them to make a cactus puppet. Did you know you can get smaller diameters of foam noodles at the hardware store?  It is called backer rod and is used to fill in gaps.  Here is a site that shows the variety you can find. http://www.bestmaterials.com/Backer_Rod.aspx