Here is a fun and easy paper pterodactyl puppet craft for kids. The template to make this paper puppet is free!

I love puppet crafts because they provide kids with a fun activity along with a DIY toy to play with (keeping them occupied for a little bit longer, haha). 

This is perfect for dinosaur lovers, and is great when you need a low-mess, low-prep activity to keep your kiddos busy.

This printable craft was first published in 2015 and has been updated and reshared for todays audience

You might also like our paper plate dinosaurs

Not long ago I made some toilet roll dinosaurs. There was a Triceratops and Diplodocus and I had planned to add to the collection with a Pterodactyl. Turns out it worked better and was easier to make from paper, which is not quite as trendy as crafting with paper rolls right now but just as much fun don’t you think?

My girls were very taken with these puppets, they named them Snowflake, Pineapple and Hearts (the green one is Hearts). Here is a quick tutorial on how you can make one at home, it won’t take long.

How to make a Paper Pterodactyl Puppet

You will need

• String
• A long craft stick or dowel rod (or any stick really)
• A hole punch and scissors
• Tape
• The free printable template below printed out on heavy paper or light card stock – mine is 160gsm which is about the maximum weight that will go through my ink jet printer. Alternatively print it out on plain paper and trace the shape onto a heavier pice of card stock.

How to

To begin with score the fold line with a blunt knife (like a butter knife) and ruler. This might sound a bit weird and unnecessary but it gives you a really perfect, clean fold. You will find it’s really easy to fold after scoring the line and it helps for this project because the Pterodactyl balances on a single string so any unevenness might cause it to tilt off balance and not work properly.

Once it’s folded cut along the black line with a pair of scissors, including the slit on the head and the extra mouth piece on the bottom of the page.

Fold the wings down evenly. The mouth piece goes through the slit with half of it sticking out the top for the spike on the back of the Pterodactyl’s skull.

Use a hole punch to carefully make two holes over the dots marked, trying to keep them right on the fold line to keep your puppet balanced.

Then tie the string through the two holes and onto the stick and you have your puppet!

If you find that your puppet won’t balance properly you might need to add a small piece of tape underneath on it’s belly to keep the string in place. I made about six of these and only one actually needed the tape.

They were a hit at our place!

More ideas for dinosaur fans

• Here are some hilarious printable dinosaur jokes kids will love
• Make 12 different paper plate dinosaurs using our printable templates
• This dinosaurs in sticky mud activity will keep preschoolers busy for hours
• Make a dinosaur small world in a suitcase for portable fun
• These paper roll dinosaurs are a big favourite of our readers!