Make the Blue Peter studio puppet theatre

Put on the best show in town with this super realistic Blue Peter studio puppet theatre!

Cut a window in the front of the box, so you’ll be able to see the Blue Peter studio space through it. Draw a line 2cm away from each edge and carefully cut out this piece.

TOP TIP: Use a pin to poke a few holes along the line until you can push your scissors through and start cutting.

Paint the inside walls of your box blue and the bottom side of the box black to create the walls and floor. If your box doesn’t have a flat bottom, cut a separate piece of card to size, paint it black and insert inside the box.

Find a plate that fits snugly inside your box. Use the plate to draw a circle on a piece of cardboard and cut this out carefully. You will need to make three cardboard circles this size and one slightly larger.

Grab your larger circle and wrap it with foil. Cut a strip of tin foil a little longer than the outside edge of your circle. Stick the foil down around the circle covering the edges.

Decorate one of the smaller circles to look like the top of Blue Peter’s circular stage. You can do this however you like, but if here’s how to create our iconic Blue Peter design:

First, paint the whole circle light blue. Once dry, use a blue felt tip pen to draw wavy lines across the whole of your circle. Start from the centre and work all the way down, and then all the way up your circle.

To create the swirl pattern, draw around one of the smaller circlers on a separate piece of white card or paper, this will make sure you are making the right size swirls. Draw swirls inside your circle and colour them in.

Cut your swirls out and glue them to your blue circle with swirly lines – your studio is starting to take shape already!

TOP TIP: If you don’t fancy drawing the swirls freestyle, take coloured felt tip pens or loaded paintbrushes (all facing the same way) and hold them in place together using sticky tape or an elastic band. Draw the swirls using your new tool in one motion, this is really fun!

To build the stage, use the two small circles of cardboard as the bottom layer, next add the tin foil wrapped circle and finally the blue painted circle. Stick these pieces together with your glue stick.

Use the lid of your egg box (either 12 or 6 depending on the size of your studio) to make the back and sides of your sofa. Cut a semi-circle shape from one side of the lid, this should remind you of the Blue Peter sofa. Draw around your sofa shape on cardboard three times and cut the shapes out. Pile your shapes up and glue them together, they will form the base of your sofa. Paint them dark blue.

Cut up some washing up sponges to create cushions for your sofa (seats and backs) and paint them blue. Water down your paint and the sponges will absorb the colour nicely.

Once your cushions and sofa are dry use PVA glue to glue the cushions into place.

TOP TIP: Use masking tape to hold the cushions in place while the glue dries.

Cut a toilet roll tube in half and paint both halves blue to match the rest of your studio.

On thick card, draw around the inside of your toilet roll tubes, then cut the circles out. Do this four times, as these will form the tops and bottoms of your podiums. Wrap your circles in foil, as easy way to do this is to place your circle in the centre of a square piece of foil and glue it down. Then wrap the excess foil around the edges covering both sides. Press the silver covered circles down on the table to make sure the foil is stuck in place.

Put glue all along the edge of your foiled circle and fit it into the top of your painted toilet roll tube.

Cut a strip of foil the same length as the edge of the toilet roll and about 1cm wide. Stick this to the bottom edge of your toilet roll

TOP TIP: Turn your silver circle on its side and roll it along the table to press the foil down into shape.

On white paper draw two rainbow swirls. You can create these using the same paintbrush/pen technique as before. Use a piece of white paper or card as a guide to see where your swirls will go before you draw them, to make sure they’ll fit. Attach your design to thin card (a cereal box is perfect) and cut out carefully.

Next, draw the Blue Peter badge on some white paper. Don’t worry about how perfect your badge is, the less perfect it is the more personality it has! The badge will go in the centre of your studio, so again use a piece of paper to check what size to draw it compared to the rest of your set. Glue the badge to thin card and cut out carefully.

Add a square of thick card to the back so that it will stand out from the walls of your box.

Glue your circular stage in the centre of your studio box and pop the sofa on top of it.

Glue your badge to the centre of the back wall above the stage. Put glue on each end of your swirl pieces and glue one end to the back wall next to your badge, and the other end to the sides of your studio so that they curve around the corners.

Add your two podiums to the front corners.

Enjoy your marvellous handy work – you did it!

If you made your own amazing Blue Peter studio, we salute you! Have a go at making the Blue Peter presenter puppets and don’t forget to make a puppet Henry too!

We would LOVE to see your versions of the Blue Peter studio! Send in a photo or video of your Blue Peter studio set using the ‘Send us your stuff’ button below.

Why not put on your own Blue Peter special show? We’d love to hear impressions of the presenters, you could bring in special guests, you could re-create your favourite moments or come up with your own exciting, inspiring or hilarious ideas.