Monster Finger Puppets

My first thought when Kate informed her creative team of the re-release of her Lil’ Monsters doodles, was that these monsters would make a super cute Monster Jam Finger Party at my house. Halloween is coming up, and I’d been thinking about different non-food treats that I could have available for other allergy kids like my daughter, and I thought these might be a fun option. It is a super quick craft to whip up for young children, and virtually no mess: win / win situation, if you ask me. Here’s how I did it:

First, I created a new blank document, US Letter size, in my program. I use Photoshop Elements 12, but I’m certain this would work without any photo editing software. On my blank canvas, I arranged several of the monster doodles, with room for circles to be feet. The size of the circles is up to you. I wasn’t paying attention to size of the circles, just sort of guessing how big my children’s fingers are.

To add the circles, I made a circle shape with the shape tool, and then simplified the shape layer. I then duplicated the circle several times and placed where I wanted the finger holes to go. Anyone following along without photo editing software, you really can just imagine where feet circles should go – we’re just going to cut them out anyway.

After my feet-circles were placed, I just printed the page, and then cut out the feet circles! Hindsight being what it is, next time, I’ll know to look at the size of the circle punch I own, so that later I can just punch circle holes at the correct size, rather than cutting. Also, print on card stock – regular paper can tear more easily in the putting on/off of fingers.

In case finger puppets aren’t something your children would enjoy, you could try stick puppets using same process, without feet-circles! I used washi tape to adhere the doodles to popsicle sticks.

And even more fun the color-your-own option. For coloring, I recommend picking up the stamp packs from Kate’s store here on her website. Stamps are my favorite for making anything coloring related, including coloring pages. Maybe it’s a pre-activity for your family – have the kids color the coloring page, while you’re busy printing and assembling puppets!