PAPER TOYS

Indigenous paper toys are very popular in India. Children make these easily and use them as puppets. Here are some examples of paper toys, which can be used as puppets, -- with comprehensive instructions how to make them, as such details are not easily available. 

Flying Bird

Materials: Cardboard, glaze paper, kite paper, bamboo stick, steel wire, chart paper, pencil, scissors and adhesive.

Procedure:

1.      Take a 6”x6” cardboard piece and paste glaze paper to its both sides. Draw a picture of a bird without wings. Two wings should be drawn separately. Cut all figures accordingly.

2.      Take a kite paper strip of 9” length; its width should depend in the length of wings. So take ½” extra to the length of the wings. Fold this strip zigzagged horizontally with ½” pleads. Make its one edge equal and another in crown shape. Paste this strip keeping the crown shape up between both wings. Paste a ½ strip of glaze paper on the outer sides of the wings also covering kite papers on the side strip.

3.      Now paste the wings at appropriate place on one side, also paste a stripe of same size on the other side to give support to the wings. Cut the bamboo stick 1 ½”deep to one edge and fix the bird in it. Take two small pieces of same colour glaze paper and paste it both side of the bird to hide the stick on the body. With any colour or sketch pen, make figures on both sides of the bird.

4.      Make a small pipe of chart paper put it on the bamboo stick. Take two pieces of steel wire and make one edge L-shape. Fix the bent wire on both the wings and other edges on chart paper pipe. Also paste colourful paper covering the wire on the pipe.

Function: When pipe on the stick is pulled down, the bird opens the wings; if it is pushed up, wings will be closed.

Dancing Bird

Dancing Joker

Material: Cardboard, glaze paper (2 different colours), one bamboo stick, thread, needle, pencil, colour-box, scissors and adhesive. In village, this toy often made by palm leaf, decorated with paint.

Procedure:

1. Draw a picture of a joker (front view) with body. Draw separately two equal size hands and two equal size legs on the cardboard and cut all the drawing separately. One can draw separate portions of the hands and legs, such as, upper arm, lower arm, upper leg and lower leg. Cut, in addition, two upper hands and two upper legs.
2. Decorate the body pattern and cap both sides with the glaze paper, and legs and hands with the glaze paper of another colour. Stitch the hands and legs on proper places. Stitch two upper hands and legs simultaneously on both sides of the body. The stitches will be slightly loose as the hands and legs can move freely. Draw eyes, nose, lip, etc., and paint on both sides.
3. Stitch a bamboo stick in the centre of reverse portion. Some times join a small piece of thread using needle to the upper edges of hands and also join thread in legs.
4. A long thread ties in the centre of hands joining thread simultaneously to legs joining thread, as they should work together.

Function: Palm leaf dancing joker is without thread. Make different figures in this style. Hold the stick and move it by two fingers. Hands and legs will be moved. For the threaded figure, pull the long thread, -- the hands and legs of the joker will be raised up. When the threads are loose, hands and legs will come down.