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Fellowship of Christian Magicians (United Kingdom)
Simple Marionette Puppet

Children's Christian story

by Peter Gardner

This marionette is very simple and cheap to make. It has no body as the head is also the body. The head is the largest part of the puppet and is simply a block of wood, about the size you would get from breaking up a wooden palette. The sections for the arms and legs are cut from pieces of dowel and are each 7cm in length and 30mm in dia.  If you are going to make these with younger children, it may be wise to pre-cut and drill all the parts.

The hands and feet are made by sawing discs of wood from an old broom handle or something of similar size. The feet are glued off centre to the lower section of each leg. The pieces for the hands are glued edgewise on to the lower of each arm section. A small hole needs to be drilled in each foot and hand to put the puppets strings through. A very short piece of dowel is cut and stuck to the front of the block for a nose. Joints for knees, elbows and for joining arms and legs to the body are made with screw eyes linked together and then squeezed closed so that they cannot come apart. In the diagram you will see that dots are shown where such joints are to be made. The two dots on the top of the head are for two single screw eyes to be put in so that strings can be attached to each side of the head. Details of stringing are not given. This is left up to the ingenuity of the individual puppeteer. There are a wide range of movements available to this puppet which would be brought about by different stringing techniques.

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Revised: July 29, 2007.
Copyright © 2005 FCMUK