If you’re an artistic family and love getting creative with your children, making lion finger puppets could be a great way to spend quality time together. This activity could follow a trip to the zoo or a safari adventure. You could even book to see The Lion Inside at the theatre - which is one of the best family activities to do in London - and then make puppets afterwards. Here are some simple lion puppet instructions to follow:

Prepare the Lion’s Body

To make the body of your lion, wrap a strip of yellow card around your finger so it fits comfortably and cut it to size. Glue or tape the ends together to form a loop. This tube-like shape will form the body of your lion. Alternatively, you could use yellow or orange felt. 

Make the Lion’s Face 

The next task is to make the lion’s face. You can do this by putting a two-pence piece on a piece of yellow card or felt and drawing round it. Cut the circular shape out. Next, cut three small circles out of black card or felt for the eyes and nose. Ask an adult to stick these to the yellow circle using a glue gun. The best way to do the mouth is to use a black permanent marker to draw a smile. You can also use it to add whiskers. 

Make the Lion’s Mane 

Making the lion’s mane is the fun part as you can be as creative as you like and use multiple colours of felt, card or tissue paper such as yellow, orange and brown. All you need to do is cut multiple strips of your chosen material, which can be long or short depending on how bushy you want the mane to be. Cut into the ends of each strip to give the mane more texture and arrange around the face you’ve just made. Next, you need to carefully attach each strip. If you’re using felt, you’ll need to ask an adult for help with the glue gun. 

Attach the Face to the Body

The final step is to glue the face you’ve just made to the body. Place it about half-way down the cardboard or felt loop so it doesn’t become flimsy, and get an adult to help you secure it using the glue gun.

Add the Final Details 

You can leave your lion finger puppet as it is, or you can add extra details such as cotton wool for a textured tummy, or brown felt for ears. How about also making a tail for your puppet by cutting a strip of felt and gluing it to the bottom of your puppet?

Discover professional puppetry with The Lion Inside

If you love lions (and animals in general) don’t miss The Lion Inside playing at the Southbank Centre in London during April. This family-friendly theatre production, based on the storybook by Rachel Bright and Jim Field, is a beautiful tale about confidence and self-esteem. It’s one of the best family activities in London this Easter so book your tickets today. Family days out in London are great for the whole family and with a theatre show in the mix you can introduce your little ones to the big stage.