How to Make Hand Puppets

John Litgow: Spring has sprung Buzzy but there’s not a lily, tulip or sunflower in sight. Our garden is growthless, our flowers have floundered,our brew have gone by. Exactly my thought Buzzy, there’s only one person who could solve this problem, get me Suza Palooza. Carmen De La Paz: It’s a blooming good day, isn’t it your mayorship? John Litgow: No, not yet Suza. Have you noticed a lack of flowers in Paloozaville lately? Carmen De La Paz: As a matter of fact, I have. I was just thinking that even though spring seems to be coming a bit late this year, we should start planting a garden. Do you happen to have any gardening pots that we could start the plants in? John Litgow: Of course we have plenty of gardening pots. Buzzy, do you remember when we were spring-theming the garage? Send over the ones that we left on the porch. Buzzing it on over Suza. Carmen De La Paz: Thank you sir. These aren’t exactly the pots that I was expecting. This stuff is more like junk. That’s it, are you ready? Kids: What’s the palooza? Carmen De La Paz: We’re going to help the mayor plant some flowers and make a junk garden. Kids: What do we need? Carmen De La Paz: We’ll need some potting soil, plants, some newspaper to layout while we plant and of course our jug pots, like this old boot or maybe a mug or an old jelly jar, anything that can hold some dirt and a small plant from the nursery. All right guys, are you ready to make a junk garden? We’re going to decorate this cool stuff we found to make some really neat looking planters. This is the ultimate recycling. We’re using old materials in a new, fun way. Here we go. I'm going to use the boot and all we need to do is fill it up with some dirt. Now this can get pretty messy so make sure you get some help from your mom or dad. Then I pick these fabulous flowers and I'm going to use this one right here, put it in, put the plant into the dirt and just a little bit more dirt all the way around it to hold the plant in place. And now all we need is a little bit of water because the plant needs water to grow. And now we’re ready to decorate our pot. You can use plastic marbles, you can use shells, you can use anything you want around the house, rocks are great. I'm going to use this little plastic bugs, I'm going to put one right here. I'm also going to put this little caterpillar as if it was crawling out. And now we’re ready for a true junk garden. John Litgow: Excuse a, Suza! Just one ring if you found any daffodils or daisies for my poor garden yet? Carmen De La Paz: Well things are coming up, roses here sir. John Litgow: Suza, inch closer to the screen, will you? Why are we planting tulips in a toy truck. And one child put a petunia in a Paloozaville Patriot’s mug. Carmen De La Paz: Isn’t it Paloozastic? John Litgow: But what happened to all the pots we sent over? Carmen De La Paz: What pots? Buzzy sent over all of this stuff. So we thought we’d use it to plant. John Litgow: Excuse me a moment. Buzzy, I meant the pots we found in the garage, not all the junk for the garage sale that we left on the porch. I'm so sorry Suza. Carmen De La Paz: Oh your gardenership, I think that the things that we used are even more special. Thanks to your blooming brilliance, Paloozaville will become known for its gardening greatness, home of the proud planter of Paloozaville. John Litgow: That’s me? Oh my that is something to—about. Well Suza, I think we should make my garden into a blossoming junk garden right there in Palooza Park, next to the statue of George Washington Palooza. And thank you Suza for making the world a more flowerful place. Carmen De La Paz: Thank you sir. John Litgow: Buzzy, I just realized, that was my boot! John Litgow: Oh, my magic scarf. A ticket stub to My Fair Palooza and—oh my! It’s Percy, my old sock puppet. Percy, you need a makeover. Yes Buzzy, Percy and I played for hours and hours when I was younger and I didn’t have the responsibilities of running a major metropolis like Paloozaville, we put on the most marvelous shows with our puppet friends, which gives me an idea. Connect me with Mayor Vision to Suza Palooza. Carmen De La Paz: Happy Opening Night your mayorhip! John Litgow: Oh, Suza, is that you? Carmen De La Paz: Sorry about that sir. We’re getting ready for opening night of the Palooza Players Theater Group and I'm just checking the costumes. John Litgow: Well, what perfect timing. Buzzy and I were just wondering if you're planning on using any puppets in this year’s production. Carmen De La Paz: Puppets? John Litgow: Yes. Carmen De La Paz: Oh sir, is that your old friend Percy? John Litgow: Yes Suza it is. You think you can work him in? Carmen De La Paz: Of course sir, send him over. John Litgow: You hear that Percy? Percy: I heard it. John Litgow: Are you ready? Percy: Ready and able. John Litgow: Buzzy? Carmen De La Paz: Oh Percy, we need to fix you up. Puppets have been around for hundreds of years. Probably the most famous were a pair of English puppets called Punch and Judy. The hook-nosed Punch and his poor wife Judy used a very physical kind of humor that we don’t see much today. Are you ready? Kids: What’s the Palooza? Carmen De La Paz: We’re going to make puppets. Kids: What do we need? Carmen De La Paz: Well we need some white athletic socks, pompoms, glue, felt, buttons and lots of imagination. We also need some puppet makers. First thing we’re going to do is take a white athletic sock and cut off the bottom third of it and this is a good place where you might want to have some help from your mom or your dad. Once we’ve got our sock cut, we’re going to take a little paper plate and draw out what looks like an open mouth. And once we've got it cut out, we’re going to glue it to the sock right at the top, almost by the seam. Once we let it dry, we’re going to turn it inside out and take your time pulling it out so that you don’t rip out the cardboard in the inside and now I'm going to use a little bit of already self-adhesive felt for my mouth but you can use a piece of material, you can use a piece of construction paper and then glue it down right about where you feel the paper plate mouth underneath. And then I'm going to fold it in half and now in the little crease of the mouth, I'm just going to take a little bit of craft foam, a little glue on the back, put it in there and now we have a tongue. In the seam of the sock, you just need to push it right in and create an eye socket or where the eye actually sits. You know I have an eye socket and the eyes inside and I'm going to take little pompoms, just a little bit of glue on the back. I'm going to just push it right into the socket. And on this side I have already another little black pompom already attached to it but you could put buttons for your eyes, but wait! He can't breathe. And now, we’re almost done with our puppet. I'm using chenille stem. I could do whatever it is that I want for my hair and then I'm going to glue it on and this is where you're going to want to use a lot of glue so that the hair stays on. And now here’s my little girl. Puppet: It’s opening night. Are you ready Suza? We’re ready. John Litgow: Oh, the thrill of opening night, the smell of the grease paint, the roar of the— Oh good point Buzzy, I'm not sure puppets use grease paint. Suza, are you ready for opening night? Carmen De La Paz: Take a seat Mr. Mayor. We’re having dress rehearsal right now sir. That’s the final practice before the performance. We’ve decided to go with an all-puppet opening night at the Palooza Palace Theater. Here we go. Once upon a time… Percy: The greatest, most handsome, most Palooza-riffic mayor in the world pulled me out of his drawer. John Litgow: Now this is good theater.