Make An Easy Fire Dog Pet Puppet

At momstown, we love fire trucks and puppy pets, so we made these easy paper tube fire dog pet puppets. Read what we also learned about dalmations & try it at home yourself!

Estimated time: 15mins

Description

 

Dalmatian dogs are the mascots of fire trucks and fire halls, but I have never really thought about why. We learned that is that Dalmatians were originally trained run alongside horse drawn carriages, and act as companions to the horses.  When horses began to be used to pull fire engines, Dalmations were a natural choice to be the companion of those horses'  as well.  They were trained to run in front of the fire cart, clear a path, and guide the horses toward the fire. They also acted as guard dogs at the firehouse, protecting the valuable horses and equipment from thieves, and served as companions to the firefighters.

Although horse drawn fire equipment was phased out, Dalmations continued to serve as the mascots and chief pets of fire departments. They provide happiness and friendship to firefighters, and encourage firefighters to exercise.  They are also excellent at teaching kids to "stop, drop, and roll," and are often used for fire safety demonstrations.

Try the great fire house pet craft below & act out your own fire dog rescue!

momstown Hamilton had loads of fun at Art & Play with this craft and created a slightly different version of these great pets with paper cups instead of toilet rolls.

fire dog puppet

Supplies

  • a paper tube
  • white and black paint
  • googlie eyes
  • scraps of black and red construction paper
  • a paintbrush
  • a Q-tip (optional)
  • scissors
  • glue
  • black marker

Instructions

  • Paint a paper tube white (alternately, you could just cover it with white paper), and allow to dry
  • Decorate your dog

    Dip a Q-tip in black paint, and use it to add spots on your dalmation (fingerprints would work great too). Glue on googlie eyes, and a triangle nose.  Draw a mouth on with a black marker, and draw or glue on a red tongue

  • Cut two ears out of black paper. If desired, fold a flap onto the top to give the ears dimension
  • Glue ears onto either side of the paper tube
  • Cut a hat shape out of red construction paper. Use a black marker to add a badge in the centre
  • Add the final touches and voila!

    Glue to the front of your dog.  To use as a puppet, simply slip a couple of your fingers into the opening of the paper tube.  Alternately, you can glue a popsicle stick to the inside of the tube

Related tags

activities for kids art Family Craft pets baby animals creativity fire fighters fire trucks preschooler puppets recycled