During the 18th century, puppet shows featuring the traditional jumping jack, a hybrid of the marionette and paper doll, were a popular form of entertainment among French royalty and high society. Today, Martha, with the help of assistant studio manager Vance Freed, demonstrates how to create your own puppet theater and characters.

For the theater, transform a plain cardboard box into a playhouse with curtains, moving scenery, and doors that open and close for each act. You can use our templates to make chow chows, frogs, sharks, rabbits, fish, and birds, or fashion your own paper animals using your imagination. Joined with brass paper fasteners, the puppets' limbs are pulled by strings, and sturdy dowels enable you to move the figures around the stage.

Create your puppet show around a particular setting, such as the ocean or forest; children will enjoy thinking up stories, songs, and characters for performances. Of course, adults should supervise children when making this project.

Making a Puppet Theater
Tools and Materials
Cardboard box
Utility knife
Pencil
Self-healing mat (available at art-supply stores)
Metal straightedge
Packing tape
Awl or hole punch
Scissors
Twine
Crepe paper
Double-sided tape
Cardboard
Glue
Tongue depressors
Paper

Puppet Theater How-To
For her Turkey Hill Theater, Martha uses an 18-by-18-inch cardboard box; adjust the dimensions to your desired size.

1. Remove any tape or staples from box. Position box with all of its top flaps open. With a utility knife, remove one of the flaps (if the box is rectangular, remove one of the wider flaps), to create the opening for the theater.

2. Stand the box on its side so that the missing-flap side becomes the base. Label the opening as the front; then label the top, bottom, back, and sides accordingly.

3. Flatten the box. For the top opening, from which the puppets will hang, draw a 16-by-8-inch rectangle on the top of the box, leaving 4 inches of space in front and 6 inches in the back with a 1-inch border on the sides. To make the slits in which the scenery will be inserted, draw three rectangles (16 by 1/2 inch, 12 by 1/2 inch, and 6 by 1/2 inch) 1 inch apart on both sides toward the back and 1 inch from the bottom. (The largest rectangle should be closest to the back; the smallest one closest to the front.) Insert a self-healing mat between the layers of cardboard so you don't cut through both layers. Cut out the top and scenery openings with a utility knife, using the metal straightedge as a guide.

4. To make the theater's marquee, use the utility knife to carefully score across the center of the top front flap so that it folds in half horizontally. (Make sure not to cut completely through the cardboard.) Fold back the flap so that its end rests flush against the front cut edge of the rectangular opening on the top of box. Secure with a length of packing tape.

5. Tape up the back of the box. Reinforce around any cut edges, such as the top and scenery openings, with packing tape.

6. With an awl or hole punch, punch one hole at the center of each side flap (the flaps will serve as the theater doors). Punch one hole in the center of each side of the box. Cut two 20-inch lengths of twine. Pull one length through the hole on one side of the box, and knot so that it catches on the inside of the box. Thread the other end through the hole in the corresponding flap. Pull flap back, and secure twine to itself with a bow. Repeat on other side.

7. To make the curtains for the theater doors, cut two pieces of crepe paper so that each piece measures the height of one of the doors by twice its width. Place a piece of double-sided tape across the top edge of each door. Attach the papers to the doors, gathering the paper to resemble a curtain.

8. For the moving scenery, cut three pieces of cardboard slightly larger than the box's width (26 by 15 inches, 26 by 5 inches, and 26 by 3 inches). Decorate the boards, which will protrude slightly out of the scenery openings, and glue tongue depressors to the back of both sides to form handles so that you will be able to move the scenery.

9. Cut a piece of paper so that it covers the marquee. Write the name of your theater on the paper, and secure onto the marquee with double-sided tape. Insert scenery into the scenery openings.

Making Paper Puppets
Tools and Materials
Puppet templates
Scissors
Pencil
Decorative paper (optional)
Construction paper
Hole punch
Paper fasteners
Mini hole punch or pin
Thread
1/8-inch-diameter wood dowels
Craft glue

Making Paper Puppets How-To
1. Using our puppet templates (or you can create your own) cut out dog, frog, shark, rabbit, fish, or bird shapes, and trace the designs onto construction paper. If using decorative paper, trace designs onto decorative paper, and glue to construction paper for backing.

2. Draw shapes for eyes, ears, noses, or beaks. Cut out the paper shapes.

3. To assemble the puppets, punch a hole at each point where the limbs attach (indicated on our templates by the large black dots), using a standard hole punch. Attach the limbs to the puppets with paper fasteners so that they can move freely.

4. Punch a hole where the strings will be attached (indicated on our templates by the small black dots), using a mini hole punch or a pin. Cut a 36-inch length of thread to correspond with each hole, and pull each piece of thread through its corresponding hole. Tie a knot at the threads' ends to secure, and position the knots so that they catch on the backsides of the limbs.

5. Cut one 18-inch dowel for each puppet. Using craft glue, such as Sobo, attach the dowels onto the back of the puppets so that they will hang down into the theater.