Chanukah: Pencil Head Puppet

It's time to make a cool Chanukah Pencil Head Puppet that you can use at school!

1"D X 2”W X 6"H piece of cushion foam
pencil
yellow fake fur
2 1/4” white pom-poms
2 3/16” black pom-poms
permanent black marker
scissors
glue

REMEMBER THAT IT'S IMPORTANT TO ALWAYS WORK UNDER ADULT SUPERVISION. SOMETIMES WE USE OBJECTS THAT COULD BE HARMFUL, LIKE SCISSORS, SO DON'T EVER ATTEMPT TO MAKE THESE PUPPETS ALONE.

1. With the permanent marker, draw your candle character profile on the 2” side of the foam. If you mess up or don't like what you've drawn, start again on the other side. You'll be cutting away a lot of the foam, including all of the markings. Using scissors, cut around the profile shape you have drawn.
2. Start to smooth out the head's appearance by carefully trimming away all remaining marks on the face with the same flat-on technique. Then continue smoothing and rounding off bumps and corners. The more you do, the smoother it will get.
3. At this point, look at the foam shape and imagine your character. You'll begin to see where a small cut could add an eye socket or a nostril. You can do this by pressing down flat with your scissors slightly open and then snipping. Clip or pull away the excess.
4. Use a black permanent marker to shade in the mouth, the eye sockets, and the eyebrows of the candle. A good way to do this is to draw around the area you will color, and then color it in. The longer you press the marker against the foam, the darker the mark will be Add eye brows and eyes.
5. Glue on the small white pom-poms for the teeth and the black pom-poms for the pupils.
6. Cut and glue on a small flame of yellow fur for the top of your candle.
7. Cut a deep slot at the bottom for the pencil.
8. Place on a pencil and enjoy! Just squeeze below the mouth to make your candle character talk. Feel free to add anything else you can imagine to your character, like little glasses or a necktie.