Naughty Monkey

Materials: Cardboard, two-coloured glaze paper, two broomsticks, needle, thread, pencil, scissors and adhesive.

Procedure:

1. Draw a pattern of a monkey (profile) on cardboard without hands and legs, but the tail should be bent to upper side. Draw two hands and legs separately. Cut all the portions and paste glaze paper on both sides of the patterns.
2. Place hands on both sides of the body at appropriate places and stitch only one with thread and needle and make knot on both sides. Fix the legs by same way. All stitches should be slightly loose, as hand and legs can move easily. Paste small pieces of glaze paper on the knots.
3. Bring the hands forward to their shoulder level, place a broomstick between both wrists and make a stitch. Make knots on both sides. Now bring both legs parallel to hands, place the same bamboo stick joined with hands, between both lower legs, and stitch. Paste small pieces of glaze paper on the knots.
4. Place another broomstick between both palms and ankles, stitch and make knots on both sides. Paste small pieces of glaze paper on the knots.

Function: Hold inner stick in one hand and move outer stick with other hand. The monkey will go up and down.

Feeding Birds

Materials: Cardboard, pencil, thread, needle, scissors, poster colours and adhesive.

Procedure:

1. Draw two pictures of any birds facing each other. Draw 2” long and ½” wide strip connected with the bottom of the birds. Cut both birds accordingly and decorated with poster colours.
2. Cut four strips of cardboard size 9”x1/2” and decorate them on both sides with colours.
3. Join two strips together and place the strip of bird in it. The distance between the bird’s strip and the edge of longer strip should be 1 ½” and another longer strip to the bottom of the bird will be ½”. Stitch it only once and make knots to both sides. Stitch another bird on the second edge of long strip facing the first bird.
4. Now join two more long strips together and place both strips of birds in it. The distance this time between long strips should be ½” and all angles will be equal. Stitch them.

Function: Holding the upper long strip from one edge with one hand, move the lower strip with another hand forward and backward. The birds will see as if they are feeding alternately.

All the above toys are use as stick puppets. We can use the indigenous toys as string puppets. There are two such examples below:

Moving Tortoise

Material: Soft cardboard, steel wire, rubber band, clay wheel, needle, thread, pencil, scissors and glaze paper.

Procedure:

1. Cut the cardboard into oval shape (6”x4”). Half cut should be made up to the centre, fixing the cut-side each other to make a cap shape. Decorate the outer portion with glaze paper and adhesive.
2. Cut four legs, a head and tail from the cardboard, decorate them with glaze paper and paste them at proper places. Take a steel wire 5” long, bend it into half circle and make two hooks on its edges. This steel wire will be stitched from inner side in the vertical centre of the pattern of tortoise with the help of paper and adhesive.
3. Take the clay wheel having two holes, to wind the thread on it. Take the rubber band and cut it only on one side. Put knots on rubber band when it passed through the holes of the wheel.
4. The end of the rolled thread should be in front side going upwards. Pull both edges of the rubber attached to the wheel and fix them to both hooks. Pass the thread in the line of clay wheel through the cardboard pattern. Fix a little cardboard design at the end of the thread, to hold it.

Function: Pull the thread upwards and release the thread. The tortoise will move forward.

Moving Crocodile

Material: Soft cardboard, steel wire, rubber band, clay wheel, needle, thread, pencil, scissors, glaze paper and thread.

Procedure:

1. Cut the cardboard in oval shape (6”x4”) and cut in two pieces vertically. Take one piece and paste steel wire 5” long just for its bottom line. When it is completely dried and fixed, make two hooks on its both edges in upper direction. Bend steel wire and cardboard simultaneously in a half-circle shape.
2. Make a long strip of glaze paper (generally black) 4”x30” long, fold it vertically from it centre. Cut this long strip in a triangular shape starting from open side. First fold from the edge about ½” and fold the whole strip zigzag. There will be zigzagged pleads in the whole strip. Paste the wide edge on the half-circle shape on the cardboard pattern.
3. After pasting the tail of the crocodile, also paste glaze paper on its head. Make eyes and mouth with colour. Fit the clay wheel with rubber band and thread, the same as ‘Moving Tortoise’. 

Function: Pull the thread upwards and release, the crocodile will move forward.

Other Indigenous Dolls