Pretend Play: F is for Storytelling Finger Puppets

by Meghan

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I am super excited to be participating in Crafty Kids at Home’s A-Z of Pretend Play series.  All month long, a different blogger will feature a different letter of the alphabet with a pretend play activity.  Today, we are sharing F is for Storytelling Finger Puppets.  I am endlessly amazed at the creativity and imagination of the Ms, and it usually takes very little to inspire them.  These simple, DIY finger puppets were a great way to enhance their storytelling – either making up their own or retelling stories already well known to them.

F is for Storytelling Finger Puppets - Pretend Play


 F is for Storytelling Finger Puppets

Earlier this summer, while in line to check out at a children’s clothing store, Big M spotted these adorable  Finger Puppet sets.  They were on sale, so I couldn’t resist and we grabbed a set of Fairy Tales and Monsters.  They are basically temporary tattoos that you apply to your fingers.  Sadly, they are way cuter on the package than they turn out on preschool fingers.  And, they were too big for Lil’ M’s fingers, who also had no patience for the application and immediately began picking them off all over the house.

Storytelling Finger Puppets - Finger Temporary Tattoos

But the girls and I were still in love with the concept, so I knew there had to be a better way…

Finger Puppet Supplies

At first, I considered just drawing directly on their fingers with Sharpies.  But I was afraid the Mommy Police would eat me alive on social media for that one!  So instead, I picked up a box of latex-free gloves, in the smallest size I could find, and used those with my minor Sharpie collection (I may need a 12-step program!) to create an endless supply of Storytelling Finger Puppets.

Supplies

Latex-free gloves, extra small
Sharpies

Cost: Less than $5
Prep Time: Less than 15 minutes
Clean-Up Time: None

Storytelling Finger Puppets - Simple Supplies

A box of gloves will run you between $5-10, and comes with enough gloves to outfit 2-3 classrooms of children with a set of storytelling finger puppets. I made the first glove under Big M’s direction, who wanted something similar to the original temporary tattoo Fairy Tale set.

Later, she decided maybe she might like to tell stories about something other than just princesses, so we made a Three Little Pigs version too.  The possibilities are truly limitless though.  Make a glove to match your child’s favorite story, TV show, movie, or make up your own characters!

Storytelling Finger Puppets - Three Little Pigs


Storytelling Finger Puppets - Pretend Play Series

What story will you tell with your Storytelling Finger Puppets?  If you try these yourself, we’d love to see what you come up with!  Be sure to catch all the posts this month in the A-Z of Pretend Play series!  You can also find all the posts on the A-Z of Pretend Play board on Pinterest.

a-z-of-pretend-play

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4 comments

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Nicola September 6, 2015 - 4:58 am

This is so much better than the store bought version. They allow for so much more creativity and imagination as well. as the kids can keep coming up with new ideas for their puppets. My kids love to put on plays, but they haven’t done one with finger puppets yet, so I can’t wait to have a go at this with them! Thanks so much for taking part in our A-Z of Pretend Play.

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PGPBMeghan September 6, 2015 - 2:02 pm

Totally… the girls ask to make a new one every day! They want one to go with every fairy tale and story we read 🙂

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