I've used a farm yard theme to illustrate this tutorial but there are hundreds of designs you could try. For example, snowmen and reindeer for a Christmas craft project. I've seen a great reindeer wooden spoon at Shannon Makes Stuff.
You will need:
Wooden spoon
Paint
PVA glue
Craft materials to decorate – for example wiggley eyes, glitter, pom poms, fun foam, wool
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The first step is to paint the wooden spoon then let it to dry. It doesn't take long for poster paint to dry, but if you are doing this craft with an impatient toddler you might want to have the spoon already painted and dried before you start.
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For the pig and cow cut the two ears, the nose and four legs out of foam. Glue these on, along with a pair of googley eyes. For the pig, I also made a twirly tail from a pinkcleaner and taped it to the back of the spoon.
For the cockerel cut a beak and two wings out of fun foam and glue these on, with two googley eyes. I used two yellow pom poms for the feet and two red skeleton leaves for the plummage on top of his head. You could also use red craft feathers
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An easy spoon puppet theme to do with a very young child is 'monsters'. If you cover the spoon with glitter glue then it is very easy for them to stick on sequins, pom poms, buttons, etc, without help from an adult, so they are much more able to use their imagination. This monster spoon puppet was made by my two year old.