Spread the love this Valentine’s Day with this DIY unicorn puppet! We’ve been super inspired by puppet lately – recycled, vintage, you name it, we love it! We’ll be continuing to share some super fun DIY puppets over the coming months, so keep your eyes peeled! Today though, we’re all about this playful pink unicorn – perfect for Valentine’s Day or anytime of year! See the video and written instructions below.

• Pipe cleaners
• Straws
• Wooden beads (varying sizes)
• Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint
• Paintbrush
• Black marker
• Jumbo pipe cleaner
• White paper / cardstock
• Air dry clay
• Empty paper roll
• Red felt
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• String
• Wooden skewer

Step 1
Lay out the pieces for your unicorn! Start by cutting a paper straw into shorter pieces – we cut each straw into 5, but the exact length doesn’t matter as long as they’re all about the same. These straws will be used for the legs (2 per leg) and the neck (1).

Take three white pipe cleaners: fold two in half (these will be the front and back legs) and fold the third pipe cleaner into thirds – this one will be for the unicorn’s neck, body, and tail.

You’ll also need an empty toilet paper roll for the unicorn’s body. Cut the roll open so that you can adjust its size later.

For the face, you’ll need a jumbo wooden bead plus an oblong bead for the snout. You’ll also need 4 mini round beads for the unicorn’s knees.

Lay everything out as shown above and then use a paintbrush to give them a nice coat of paint. Let dry completely.

Step 2
Now that everything is painted and dry, thread the straws and beads onto the pipe cleaners as you had it all laid out. At the bottom of each leg, shape the excess pipe cleaner into rounded feet. Bend the pipe cleaners at the knees and attach the leg pipe cleaners onto the torso pipe cleaner by simply twisting them together at the bends you previously made.

Step 3
For the unicorn’s body, roll the paper roll back together and overlap so that you can control the size. Glue together and then apply a little bit of glue onto the pipe cleaner torso, attaching the paper roll on top to secure.

Step 4
You can also add some sweet Valentine’s Day decorations onto the unicorn by cutting red felt into hearts and gluing onto the torso.

Step 5
Thread the neck straw onto the pipe cleaner, followed by the large wooden bead and smaller oblong bead for the snout. Cut a jumbo pipe cleaner so that it fits nicely along the neck and head, and then glue into place. Use another piece of jumbo pipe cleaner to twist onto the white pipe cleaner at the end of the torso to form a fluffy tail.

Cut white card stock into two small triangles and make a small fold along the bottom of each. Glue the ears onto the large wooden bead, and use a black marker to draw on eyes.

Step 6
For the unicorn’s horn, we used air dry clay to form a point, let dry completely and painted it to match the unicorn. Use glue to attach it onto the wooden bead head. Or, if you have a golf tee laying around, this would be the perfect horn too!

Step 7
Finally, tie piece of string onto the white pipe cleaner at the start of the tail, the base of the neck, and the base of the head. Tie these strings onto a wooden skewer and voila! You’ve got a lovely, trotting unicorn all ready to spread Valentine’s Day cheer!

Photo and video by Caroline Gravino
Creative Direction by Handmade Charlotte