Christmas carols just got even more fun – today we’re making these DIY ornament puppets and boy do they love to sing! These cheerful and silly friends are ready to accompany all your holiday singing this year and maybe they’ll even add some backup vocals of their own! Kids will not only LOVE playing with these guys but crafting them too – watch the how-to video below, and keep reading for the full written instructions.

• Styrofoam ball
• Apple Barrel Acrylic Craft Paint
• Paintbrush
• Wooden skewer
• Paper straw
• Googly eyes
• Pink felt
• Silver paper
• Silver pipe cleaner
• Craft knife
• Glue

Step 1
Use a craft knife to carefully cut your styrofoam ball in half as evenly as possible. To make three singing ornaments (as shown in the video) you’ll need to do this and the following steps for 3 styrofoam balls.

Step 2
Paint the outside of the styrofoam balls and let dry. We used red, pink, and pale blue.

Step 3
Insert a wooden skewer into the cut side of one of the halves, centering it as much as possible. Then paint a paper straw to match the styrofoam ball and insert that through the bottom of the other matching styrofoam ball, pushing it so it pierces through to the other side. Line the end of the straw up with the cut edge of the styrofoam, as shown in the video. You should now be able to put the wooden skewer into the straw and operate the puppet by holding the straw in one hand and moving the wooden skewer up and down with your other hand.

Step 4
Cut two circles of pink felt so that they fit snugly on the inside of the ornament’s mouth, using glue to secure in place.

Step 5
Time to add details! Glue on googly eyes for the face and bend a silver pipe cleaner into a little hook. Stick that into the top of the ornament and bend a piece of silver paper into a short loop – glue that loop around the pipe cleaner to finish up the hook.

Voila! Your puppets are ready to sing!

For even more holiday puppets, make sure to take a look at our DIY pasta puppets from last year: this playful elf, jolly Santa, and of course Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!

Happy crafting!

Video and photography by Caroline Gravino
Creative Direction by Handmade Charlotte