Cardboard Red Barn DIY Puppet Theatre

This cardboard red barn DIY puppet theatre will provide hours of fun for the kids to put on puppet shows for their family and friends.

Disclosure: As a project leader for Elmer’s “Can You Top This” Challenge for Collective Bias, I am being compensated.

DIY red barn puppet theatre

The kids absolutely LOVE their new puppet theatre and have put on countless shows for us already.  

Supplies

• Tri-fold cardboard display board
• Acrylic paint – red, brown, black, and white
• Box cutter
• Straw or raffia
• Wood animals – pre-painted preferred
• Popsicle sticks
• Glue

How to make a puppet theater

Using the box cutter, cut a section out of the tri-fold board to create the window for the puppets.

Glue pieces of raffia (or straw) onto the sides of the window to create curtains. 

The puppets were pre-cut and painted wood animals purchased at Michael’s craft store so I just glued popsicle sticks to the back of them

Paint the tri-fold board to resemble a red barn. Once the paint has dried, add a few of the painted wood critters to the outside of the barn.

Now you are ready to put on an epic barnyard puppet show.

Tri-fold board ideas

Are you looking for crafts and ideas using Elmer’s tri-fold boards? Check out these that we have made, and we have another list of ideas below that too:

• Make a bee photo booth for parties
• Halloween photo booth frame
• LEGO Lord Vampyre costume
• Give a giant gift card
• These movie night costumes were made using a cardboard box, but you can use a tri-fold board too.

Even more tri-fold board ideas

• A science fair project
• A book report for school
• A backdrop for a nativity scene for a Holiday
• A chore chart for your children
• A holiday calendar
• A bean bag toss game
• A display board for your kid’s artwork

You can purchase Elmer’s tri-fold display boards at Walmart. Break them down, glue things to them, cut them, or paint them to create anything you like. There are two versions available, a cardboard tri-fold board, or a foam one.

Have you made a DIY puppet theatre? Did it have a particular theme like ours did?

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