Materials
- Construction paper
- scissors
- brown lunch bags
- white glue
- 23mm wiggly eyes
- stickers
- markers for detail
What to do
1. Make patterns for animal puppets. The example shown is for a walrus (see illustration). Make your own puppet first, and when you are done with each letter, let the children make their own puppets.
2. Help the children trace the patterns onto construction paper and cut them out. The children glue the pieces to a paper bag as shown.
3. Encourage the children to decorate their walrus puppet as desired, using wiggly eyes, stickers, and markers.
4. Post the animal puppet with the uppercase and lowercase letter as you study the phonics for that letter.
5. When the last letter animal is made, have an animal puppet parade and visit other classrooms.
6. If desired, vary the types of puppets you make (for example, stick puppets, paper tube puppets, and spoon puppets).
7. Suggestions for the animal puppet to make for each letter:
- Aa: Alligator
- Bb: Bear
- Cc: Cat
- Dd: Dog
- Ee: Elephant
- Ff: Frog
- Gg: Goat
- Hh: Horse
- Ii: Iguana
- Jj: Jaguar
- Kk: Koala
- Ll: Lion
- Mm: Monkey
- Nn: Narwhal
- Oo: Otter
- Pp: Pig
- Qq: Quail
- Rr: Raccoon
- Ss: Seal
- Tt: Turtle
- Uu: Umbrella bird
- Vv: Vulture
- Ww: Walrus
- Xx: X-ray fish
- Yy: Yak
- Zz: Zebra
- Long Vowels:
- A: Ape
- E: Eagle
- I: Ibis bird
- O: Orangutan
- U: Unicorn fish
-Mary Brehm, Aurora, OH
