Cotton Pad Animal Puppets, Easy Winter Craft kids!

Looking for an easy winter craft for kids that uses everyday materials? These DIY winter animal puppets made from cotton pads are soft, playful, and easy enough for preschoolers and early elementary kids. Cotton pads have a perfect round shape and a fluffy texture, which makes them surprisingly versatile for kids’ crafts.

In this tutorial, we turn basic cotton pads into cute animal puppets: a snow bunny, a snow owl, and a polar bear, using craft sticks and a few simple supplies. This is a great classroom craft, indoor winter activity, or weekend project at home. The finished puppets are sturdy enough for pretend play, storytelling, and puppet shows.

To make things even easier, we’ve included a step-by-step YouTube video so kids (and adults) can craft along at their own pace.

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Simple Winter Animal Craft Kids

Why Cotton Pads Are Great for Kids’ Crafts

Cotton pad crafts are ideal for young children because they are:

Soft and easy to cut
A perfect circle that makes a great body or head
Lightweight and forgiving for small hands
Inexpensive and easy to find
Great for practicing fine motor skills

This cotton pad animal craft also encourages creativity. Kids can change colors, expressions, or even invent their own animals once they understand the basic steps. For example, a snowman or a reindeer!

A Fun Winter Craft for Home and Classroom Use

These animal puppets work especially well as:

Winter crafts for preschool and kindergarten
Animal-themed classroom activities
Storytime or puppet play projects
Low-prep crafts for teachers
Indoor activities for cold or rainy days

Craft Supplies for DIY Cotton Pad Animal Puppets

You probably already have many of these supplies at home or in the classroom.

Materials needed:

Round cotton pads
Jumbo craft sticks (popsicle sticks)
Felt fabric or colored paper
Googly eyes
White pom-poms
Washi tape (we used glitter washi tape for scarves)
Two buttons for the owl (optional)
Black fine liner
Glue (hot glue works best, but school glue is fine)
Scissors
Pink paint marker (optional)

Step-by-step instructions: Cotton pad animal puppets

Step 1: Make the puppet base (for all three animals)

Each puppet uses one jumbo craft stick + two round cotton pads.

Glue one cotton pad in the middle of the craft stick (this is the body). See images A and B below.
Glue the second cotton pad at the top, overlapping the first one slightly (this is the head). See image C below.
Let it dry for a minute. (Hot glue is fastest, but school glue works too, just give it more drying time.)

Now choose which animal you want to make (or make all three). For each animal, you can see a layout of all the pieces below.

Bunny puppet (cotton pad bunny on a stick)

Step 2: Add ears and feet

Cut one cotton pad in half and cut two ears, see image above.
Glue the ears behind the bunny’s head.
- Ears can point up, sideways, or hang down (all look cute).
Cut another half-cotton pad into two small oval shapes for the feet (or leave them rounded).
Glue the feet at the bottom of the body cotton pad.

Step 3: Bunny face and tail

Glue on two googly eyes. See image F above!
Add a pink heart nose (felt fabric or colored paper).
Glue a white pom-pom tail on the side or lower back of the body. See images E and F above.
Optional: draw a small mouth and add blush with a pink marker.

Step 4: Bunny scarf

Wrap a strip of glitter washi tape around the neck area as a scarf (or use paper/felt/pipe cleaner). See images below for reference. Adding a small scarf made from washi tape gives the puppets a cozy winter look, but you can also leave it out to make it more spring or summer-proof.

Owl puppet (cotton pad owl on a stick)

Step 2: Add wings and ear tufts

Cut one cotton pad in half to make two wings, see image above.
Glue the wings on both sides of the owl’s body.
Use small cotton scraps (or tiny paper triangles) to create two pointy ear tufts, then glue them on top.

Step 3: Owl eyes and beak

Glue on two googly eyes.
For a bigger “owl look,” glue two paper circles (or two buttons) underneath the googly eyes first.
Cut a small orange triangle beak (paper or felt) and glue it under the eyes.

Step 4: Owl claws + details

Cut two small orange feet/claws and glue them at the bottom of the body.
Use a black liner to add feather lines or simple wing details.

Step 5: Owl scarf

Add a washi tape scarf around the neck area.

Bear puppet (cotton pad bear on a stick)

Step 2: Add ears and paws

Glue two white pom-poms on top of the bear’s head for ears.
Cut ¼ of a cotton pad and cut it into two rounded pieces for paws, as shown in the image above.
Glue the paws near the bottom of the body/cotton pad.

Step 3: Bear face

Glue on two googly eyes.
Add a brown nose (paper or felt).
Use a black liner to draw a small mouth (simple lines look best).

Step 4: Bear scarf

Wrap washi tape around the neck as a scarf (or use paper/felt/pipe cleaner).

Finished Cotton Pad Animal Puppets

Once the glue is dry, the puppets are ready to play with. Kids can:

Act out stories
Create their own animal characters
Use them for classroom storytelling or role-play

This adds extra value beyond the craft itself.

More winter animal crafts for Kids

If your kids enjoyed this cotton pad craft, you might also like:

An adorable paper cup snowman and reindeer
Upcycled egg carton winter frames

For more kid-friendly craft ideas, supply lists, and step-by-step tutorials, take a look at our favorites page and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

: Fun Winter Craft Kids

: Recycled Egg Carton Frames