Puppet Theater (PVC PIPE)

If you have a child who struggles with their imagination, or if you have a child who LOVES to play pretend, this is the project for both!  Making this was so much easier than I thought it was going to be and that's always a relief for me AND my viewers!

PVC Frame Supplies:

3- 10 ft poles at 3/4"

4 elbows

6 Tee's

2 end caps

2 elbows with taped side outlet

2 adapters

I've color coded the pvc pipe fittings as follows:

(If you're color blind, you'll have to find someone to tell you what's what ;)

 BLUE: elbows

RED: Tee's

YELLOW: caps

GREEN: elbow with outlet attached to PURPLE: adapters

As for measurements and cuts of the 3 poles you'll need:

2@ 48" (or 4 feet each)

2@ 46.5" (because the adapter adds some length here)

2@ 6"

2@ 17"

3@ 30"

4@ 2"

2@ 13" 

THE TOTAL DIMENSIONS AFTER FINISHED 

H: 50.5"

W: 33.5"

D"10.5"

I had 3 yards of a thick grey fabric that I just wrapped around and used velcro on the two back poles. (After I was completely finished I decided to add a square of velcro to each front top corners (on the elbow joints) to hold it up and steady for the show!)

You could make three panels that velcro to the the front and sides, but I just used what I had and wrapped it all the way around.

I cut a hole for the theater. Be sure to pick the right height for your kids and think about how you want it because if it's low like mine you see your children through the hole when they're on their knees but I also didn't want them getting an arm cramp from holding it up too high. 

I hot glued on an edge of seeming tape to keep it from fraying after cut. 

Which I also added to the top of all the fabric. (I didn't cut the bottom and it won't frey) 

Pick fabric for your curtain and cut it with seem allowance including the ruffle on top:

Sew (or hot glue) the curtain to the top of theater hole...

But DON'T forget the tie ribbons!!!

So you can do this:

If you want a background/drop do as follows: I used an old white sheet. 

(But any fabric/design would work!)

Hem the cut edges and fold over and sew a loop to the top (to loop onto PVC pipe) and also loop the bottom of the background to insert weights.

I used glass rocks for weights because I could not FOR THE LIFE OF ME find my metal washers

Stitch them into the bottom loop of background.

Use that top loop to hook onto PVC:

This snowman sign was in my DI pile but I found chalkboard paint use for it!

TA-DAH!

You can fold the background over the pipe it is hung on if you don't want to use it for the time being. Because sometimes the kids want to have a nice conversation with the puppets......or get eaten.

Thanks for stopping and-

STAY TUNED FOR HOW TO MAKE:

WOODEN DOWEL PUPPETS!