Spring Craft: Earth Worm Puppet

Kids will have hours of fun with worm puppet. Perfect for a spring craft!

What you need

Brown tissue paper (find in color-variety packs)
Bendable plastic flexi-straw
Green paper cup, medium size (find in the party aisle)
Green construction paper
Tiny wiggly eyes
Fine-tipped markers
Scissors
White glue
Water in plastic container
Soft paintbrush for spreading glue
Tacky white glue or double-sided tape
Old pie pan or clean meat tray
Rubber bands
Moist rag
Newspapers

Instructions

Preparation:

Spread newspapers on table. Using a pencil, punch a hole in the bottom of the cup large enough for a flexi- straw to poke through snugly. Cut a strip of brown tissue paper almost the length of the straw and two inches wide. Pour two parts glue into plastic container with one part water and stir. Place moist rag nearby to clean sticky fingers.

Putting it together:

Place the brown tissue paper strip on the newspaper and spread the watered down glue over it with a brush. Lay the straw along one long edge of the tissue, leaving a portion of the straight end of the straw poking out. Roll the straw up in the wet tissue.

While the glue is still wet, carefully push or slide the wet tissue up the straw toward the bend end, crumpling and wrinkling it to form the segments of the worm until the tissue covers about one half of the straw (bent end).

Pinch or work some of the tissue into the tip of the straw to cover the hole and create the worm’s head. Carefully place on pie tin or meat tray to dry.

Trace child’s hand on a piece of green construction paper three or four times using fine-tipped marker, making sure tracings do not overlap. Cut out hand tracings.

Spread tacky glue on back of each hand tracing (not the fingers) and attach to the cup with the fingers protruding above the lip of the cup to create grass. Continue to glue the hand cutouts to the cup, overlapping as necessary, until the cup is covered all the way around. Use the rubber band to hold the cutouts in place until dry.

Use a small dot of tacky glue to attach each wiggly eye to the worm head and allow to dry.

Once all parts are dry, push the bottom of the straw down through the hole in the cup and put on a wormy puppet show!