Make these silly rhyming puppets and use them for rhyming activities. Your kids will have so much fun that they won’t realize they are learning. This is a perfect activity to use with the Rhyming Dust Bunnies book. Tutorial and activity ideas are included.
Rhyming can be so much fun. That’s why I love silly rhyming activities. I’m going to show you how I made these goofy dust bunny puppets and I’ll give you a few activity ideas to go along with them. This is a great activity to go along with the book Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas.
Puppet Supplies
I found these wash mitts at the dollar store. What a DEAL! They were made to wash and polish cars, so I found them in the automotive area. Looks like the dust bunny body to me! Unfortunately, I only found the mitts in two colors at the dollar store. I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for bargain mitts in more colors. If you are looking for additional colors to make several dust bunny puppets, there is an Amazon link at the end of this article.
In addition to the wash mitts, I used the following supplies:
- extra large googly eyes
- large, bright pom-poms
- black fabric (I used an old sock…you can use felt)
- brightly colored paper, laminated (you can use felt)
- hot glue gun
How to Assemble Your Dust Bunny Puppet
I created a video to show you how to assemble your dust bunny puppet, but you can keep reading to see the step-by-step instructions as well.
- EYES – Attach the eyes to the fuzzy side of the mitts. I used hot glue, but you can also use glue dots. Move the shaggies out of the way and nestle the eyes in there.
- NOSE – I used a big, brightly colored pom-pom for my noses. You can use a plastic bottle cap, a circle of felt…whatever you have. Glue it the same way that you glued the googly eyes.
- MOUTH – For the mouth, I had to get creative. I recently moved and donated TONS of stuff from my supply closet when I was packing. Of course, I find that I miss many of those supplies. I couldn’t find any black felt, black paper, or black fabric scraps (all were in my supply closet before the move 🙁 ). After digging through my son’s sock drawer and found an old black sock that was too small for him. I cut an oval shape out of the sock and made a mouth from it. Using a glue gun I shaped the fabric into an interesting mouth as I attached it.
- EARS – If I had felt on hand I probably would have made some floppy little ears out of felt. Instead, I used brightly colored paper. To make the paper a bit sturdier, I laminated it. After cutting two ears from the laminated paper, I glued them to the back of the mitt.
Rhyming Activities with the puppets
Here are just a few rhyming games that you can play with the puppets. Do you have any additional ideas? I would love to hear them in the comments below.
What Rhymes with….
One dust bunny can say “What rhymes with…..(insert word here)”. You can use word cards if you need word ideas. A second dust bunny can name a rhyming word. The rhyme can be either a real word or a silly word. If you have more than two dust bunnies, you can get more kids involved. In the book, there is a dust bunny that does not rhyme so you can even have a goofy dust bunny puppet that doesn’t know how to rhyme. Just have fun with it.
Focus on the beginning sound
Focus on one particular consonant sound. When the first dust bunny names a word, the second dust bunny makes a rhyme by adding the focus sound the word ending. For example, if the word is dog and the focus letter is m, the second dust bunny will say “mog”. This is a great letter of the week activity.
Name Game
Play as above, but instead of using a word use kids’ names. You can also use the puppets to sing the name game.
Use with rhyming match cards
Spread a set of rhyming matching cards out on a table and use the dust bunnies to point to the rhyming pairs.
Below are some items from Amazon that can be used to help you create the puppets or activities mentioned in this article. The links below are affiliate links. If you happen to purchase something from a link, there will be no additional cost to you, but a small portion of your purchase will be used towards the cost of maintaining this website and providing you with more resources for your kids.
You may also be interested in the following rhyming activities in my TPT store. Click on the image below to check them out.
Foam…..that’s a great idea for ears! Thanks Laura!
This is great. Students always love this book. What a cute extension. Thanks for sharing.
@thebonetschool
Very cute. I can see kids wanting to do a matching rhyming pairs activity much more if they could wear the bunny puppet. You could also use foam sheets to cut the ears if you could find a good color.