Cereal Box Dinosaur Puppet

Ingredients

• 1 Pebbles cereal box (the 15-ounce size works great)

• 2 egg carton dimples

• 1 piece of red felt or red paper

• 6 packing “peanuts” (available at packing and shipping stores)

• Brown or green paint (acrylic provides the best coverage)

• 1 thread spool

• Scissors

• Masking tape

• White glue

• White paper

• Black felt-tip pen

• 1 foam paint brush

• Ruler

• Newspaper or paper bags

Directions

1. Tape the top of the cereal box shut.

2. Using a ruler and the black pen, measure the midpoint height of the box when it’s standing. (On a 15-ounce box, this is at exactly 6 inches.) Mark that spot. Then, using the ruler, draw a line around the width of the 2 sides and the front of the box at that midpoint.

3. Use a scissors to cut all three sides along that line.

4. Bend the box along the uncut line (which is on the back of the box) so that the box is now folded in half with two compartments that you can put your fingers and thumbs in to move the box, like the mouth of a puppet.

5. Unbend the box and place it flat on a table covered with newspaper or paper bags. Paint three sides of the box and let it dry. This may take up to an hour.

6. While you are waiting for that side to dry, cut out two dimples of an egg carton, taking care to cut generously so that you can fold back part of the dimple. This will make glueing it onto the box easier. Paint them as well. When they dry, cut out two small white paper ovals, add black dots for pupils, and glue one onto each dimple.

8. When the box is dry, turn it over and paint the other side. Let dry.

9. On the side that has been cut, glue the egg dimples—you might have to use a lot of glue here—onto the top half, so that the eyes face outward. Let dry.

10. Glue the thread spool on the front for a nose. Let dry.

11. Cut out a tongue from either the felt or a piece of paper.

12. On the lower half of the box (underneath the folded seam), glue the tongue onto the box.

13. Glue the packing peanuts in a semicircle around the tongue. Let dry.

Have fun! The puppet is easiest to operate if you use both hands.