Ping Pong Puppet Project

This fun little puppet project stems from back when I worked in the entertainment department at Walt Disney World. I was a puppeteer and whenever we would audition for new roles, the first part of the audition would entail us using these ping-pong puppet eyes and 'lip-synching' with our puppet hands to Stayin' Alive in a mirror. I kid you not.

However, it dawned on me that since Little G seemed to be enamored with Sesame Street the one time he watched it that perhaps he would get some amusement from these puppet eyes and believe me, the kid goes ballistic every time I pull these out.

I should start with the warning that clearly this is not a baby/kid friendly project since it involves sharp scissors and a needle...but the outcome is totally kid worthy. Also should mention to not let your kid suck on the pin-pong ball eyes since God only knows what they are made of but I am sure it isn't baby friendly.

Moving along...

Step 1: purchase some white ping pong balls, preferably without any markings on them but those are super hard to find, so minimal markings works well too:



Step 2: since you want as much white area on your eyes as possible, try to match up the markings on the balls so that when they are next to each other they are harder to see...in this case, I matched up the two stars which seemed to block most of the writing from view:

Step 3: take a pair of scissors and GENTLY poke a hole in the ping pong ball where the star is:

Step 4 (sorry no picture): punch another hole in the ping pong ball 90 degrees south from your original hole.

Step 5: Grab some elastic:

Step 6: in order to thread the elastic through the ping pong balls, you will need to attach it to a needle and thread:

Step 7: pay attention here...you want to thread the elastic into the bottom of the first ping pong ball and out the side and then continue into the side of the second ping pong ball and out the bottom:

Step 8: Once the elastic is threaded, tie a knot loose enough to just fit your middle finger through the hole and trim the ends:


Step 9: You can either draw on irises or you can use sticky back foam or glue on some felt...either way, cut out two small circles:

Step 9a: I like to cut small squares and then face them together to trim them so I can make sure the circles I end up with are approximately the same size:

Step 10: Place the black circles on the ping pong balls to make 'eyes':

ALL DONE!!

Now slip the eyes over your middle finger and voila!!! A ping pong puppet!

And...for your viewing pleasure...my horrid puppetry skillz and even more pathetic chewed up fingers...