Paper Dragon Stick Puppet

In today's story, a dragon teaches the humans a lesson about dangerous assumptions. Let's make a rather less dangerous dragon puppet out of paper.

-construction paper

-markers

-scissors

-pencil

-glue

-tape

-bamboo skewers or chopsticks

Take one piece of construction paper. This will be for your dragon's body. Fold it in half lengthwise, then fold it in half lengthwise once more. Then, unfold it! Your paper is now divided into four equal strips.

Simply follow the fold lines to cut the paper into four equally sized strips.

Take two of the strips, place them end-to-end, and then put tape on both sides of the join. Repeat this with the other two strips, too. Now you have two long strips of paper!

Lay one long paper strip on the table, and lay the second on top of it at a right angle, so that they make a neat corner. Put a little piece of tape around the corner so it stays lined up during the folding process.

Now, fold one paper strip over the other, over and over, to create an accordion strip. (You may have done this before with straw wrappers in the cafeteria or at McDonalds - same idea.)

Once you reach the end of the strips, add another little piece of tape to keep the ends together.

Now you have a dragon body!

At each end of the accordion, fold out a little flap. This is where you'll attach the head and the tail pieces once you've made them.

Set the body aside for now.

Fold another piece of construction paper in half the other way, so it looks like a greeting card.

Draw a dragon head and a dragon tail. You want the drawings to be positioned so that the dragon's mouth and the tip of its tail run right against the fold.

Once you've sketched out the shapes, use markers to color and decorate them however you'd like.

Make sure to NOT cut the fold! Decorate the undecorated halves of the head and tail.

Open the head up, and glue one end of one of the skewers or chopsticks down. Add some more glue around it.

Remember the flaps you folded out on the dragon's body? Now you can use one to attach the head!

Press the flap down against the glue on the inside of the dragon's head. Then, add another line of glue on top of the flap. Fold the other side of the head down and sandwich the flap between the two halves of the head. Press down hard, and rub the two sides together so the glue adheres really well.

Let it dry for a few minutes.

Once the glue has set on the head, you can put the tail together in the same way, gluing on the stick and then sandwiching the other flap on the body in between the two halves of the tail.

Now you have a dragon puppet! Let it dry before you play with it.

You can move your dragon around, and stretch its body back and forth by manipulating the sticks.

Does your dragon have a name?