Tacky the Penguin finger puppets (with free pattern!)

When I was little, Tacky the Penguin was one of my favorite books! So of course it was one that absolutely had to be added to my daughter’s library. (that happens to you all, right? lol)

So when Polly emailed me about the Read Along series she was planning, I jumped right on board and started thinking of possible books. Tacky the Penguin popped out at me! (mostly because I figured I could do a craft with those cute penguins!)
So I made some felt penguin finger puppets to help act out the story!
If you haven’t read this book, it’s about some penguins…
There are five penguins, Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect. There are what they sound like: snooty, stuck up penguins. hehe.
Then there’s Tacky.
He’s a free spirit, to say the least.
One day some hunters come to catch the penguins and sell them. Oh no!
Basically Tacky saves the day by being….Tacky.

To make these little finger puppets, just print out the free pattern (at 100% scale), and cut the pieces out of felt.

I sewed on the white fronts first, then the other pieces (bow, beak, feet). The eyes are just french knots. Then I sewed the front and back pieces together, right sides out, with a simple whip stitch.

Tacky was a bit different with the addition of his shirt. I made the flowers with french knots, and then sewed the black outline of his collar, and sewed it to his front.

Sadie loved the little penguins and how they “matched with my book!” She’s all about matching these days.

A hit all around. 😉

Thanks everyone! Happy reading and crafting. 🙂

Comments

  1. Jess I LOVE IT! I love penguins, now I have to make some, is it weird if I make them for myself?? lol

  2. What a cute idea! Thanks for the free pattern!

  3. What a sweet way to bring a book to life. They look like fun.

  4. adorable. My daughter loves penguins. I’ll have to try the book and the finger puppet! thank you

  5. Jess I just gave your blog an award, I absolutely love your blog so please go check it out

    http://www.mrssassycrafter.com/2011/03/somebody-thinks-im-stylish-or-my.html

  6. Those penguins are adorable! I’ve never read that bok before it looks really fun. I’ll have to see if our library has it.

    justenoughstyle.blogspot.com

  7. Haha I love Tacky’s sweater. Very cute! Sadie looks like she loves them!

  8. Love it! So adorable! I find myself buying my girls the books I loved as a child, what a great craft project to go with!

  9. These penguins are cute.
    For a chance to win some of our brand new teeny tiny penguin buttons hop along to our ButtonMad Blog. We are holding a give away which ends at midnight tonight.
    Good luck if you do enter!
    Tamara

  10. Wow!! Is there nothing you can’t do?!! How adorable 🙂

  11. I’m a teacher and my students always enjoy the Tacky books (there are MORE Tacky books so make sure you check them out!). These are super cute! 🙂

  12. Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [29 Mar 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

  13. Love this Jess! And I love that book. 🙂

  14. Cute, thanks for sharing.

  15. These are SO cute, Jess! I’ve never heard of this book before. My entire family has a thing for penguins (it was my grandmother’s nickname:) LOVE them!!!

  16. This is sooo cute! Thanks for sharing!

  17. Love them!! Thanks for the tutorial! 🙂

  18. We read these books in my first and second grade classrooms. There are several Tacky books. I love say “Tacky was an odd bird, but a nice bird to have around.”

  19. My penguin-obsessed preschooler would LOVE this!

  20. Thank you for sharing this pattern – my class loved making these.

  21. Hi! I love these finger puppets! What a great book to add finger puppets to! We love to read this one and its sequel. Thank you so much for sharing!

    I linked back here in a post I did on a round-up of cute finger puppet patterns and I plan to make a set of these for my daughter to play with while we read!

    http://www.feltwithlovedesigns.com/2013/07/21/links-with-love-free-finger-puppet-patterns/

  22. Evelyn Carlson says

    For Tacky the penguin finger puppet, the pattern link is for felt flowers and not the penguin. Can you correct this and let me know when it is corrected?

Trackbacks

  1. […] Craftiness is not Optional offers a pattern for a set of finger puppets to go with the book Tacky the Penguin (it’s a really cute book, you should read it if you haven’t already.) We LOVE anything that brings stories to life and I can’t wait to make a set of these to go along with our copy of the book  (and the sequel!) She also made some cute Star Wars finger puppets but no pattern to go with them. […]

  2. […] Craftiness is not Optional – Free pattern for a set of finger puppets to accompany Tacky the Penguin (If you haven’t read this yet, I highly recommend it. It’s one of our favorites!) We LOVE anything that brings stories to life and I can’t wait to make a set of these to go along with our copy of the book  (and the sequel!) Although she doesn’t include a pattern, she also made some cute Star Wars finger puppets you should check out. […]

  3. […] Tacky the Penguin Finger Puppets Finger puppet patterns to match the Tacky the Penguin book. […]

  4. […] Free finger puppet pattern from Craftiness is not Optional. […]

  5. […] are all ready to hit the stage. See how easy it is to make Tacky and his friends by going to CRAFTINESS is not OPTIONAL for the […]

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