This snake puppet is the perfect way to recycle a stockpile of old egg cartons. The idea is based on a traditional Chinese puppet design and you can vary the length and make it as colorful as you like. Small children can easily thread each individual egg carton onto the string and they will really enjoy creating this wonderful toy, which is thankfully very easy on the budget. At the end, you can look forward to hours of jungle themed puppet shows.
Snake puppet in action
: 45 minutes
Age: Under 5's
Level: Easy
Materials for a snake puppet
Paints, textas or crayons
After eating a few delicious omelettes, take the egg cartons and cut out each individual egg "cup".
Make some holes in the egg carton
Make a hole in the base of each individual egg "cup".
Paint or color (with crayons or textas) the outside of each individual egg "cup" to make the snake's rainbow scales. (We used crayons for simplicity, but paint would look better and brighter.)
Thread each egg carton onto string
Take a large needle and thread some string through it, then poke the string through the hole in the base of each individual egg "cup" until they are all lined up.
Snake scales all lined up
Add some eyes to the front and a tongue if you wish. You could leave your snake just as it is at this point - however, if you want to make it into a puppet, you will need to continue.
Tie the string onto a stick
Attach four even lengths of string to four points along the snake to make it move along. You may attach these lengths of string to a stick to make it even more versatile.
Let the Jungle Puppet Show begin
Have fun making snake puppet shows - maybe create a whole jungle scene to go with the snake show.
