Students will design a rod puppet inspired by characters from Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are.  The will make the head for the puppet out of paper mache and decorate it with tempera paints.

 

aluminum foil

newspapers

Elmer's Art Paste

Tempera Paint

Paint Brushes

Dowel Rods

 

Rod Puppets from Around the World Presentation

Javanese Rod Puppet Replica from Crizmac
 

Loosely wrap a sheet of aluminum foil around a dowel rod and tape around the "neck" area. 

 

 

Form the foil to make a rounded head shape.

 

 

 

Tape more pieces of foil onto the head if you would like to have a nose sticking out or a large chin, etc.

 

 

 

Tear newspapers into 1 inch strips by tearing the paper from top to bottom.  (Paper has a grain.  If you tear along the grain, you will have nice straight tears.  If you tear against the grain, you will have difficulty tearing straight lines.)

 

Mix up the paper mache mixture until it has a yogurt-like consistency.

 

Dip each strip of newspaper into the paper mache mixture and squeeze off the extra mache so that the paper is damp, but not dripping.

 

Wrap each strip around the foil armature and overlap as you add each piece.  Smooth as you go so that no pieces of paper are popping off the puppet's head.

 

When the armature is completely covered, set aside to dry.  I have my students place their dowel rods into an overturned milk crate so that the heads are sticking out the top.

 

When the head is dry, you can sand off rough edges if you like or go ahead and paint.

 

Paint the light colors first and paint a base coat with a large brush.

 

 

 

After the base coat is dry, get a smaller brush and add in details like teeth, nostrils and eyes.

 

Let the paint dry again and then you are ready to attach your head to a body!