Hand puppets that tell stories
Hand puppets from Folkmanis, Living Puppets and The Puppet Company, plus finger puppets, Punch and Judy puppets, dolls and soft toys – for home, nursery, school and therapy.
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Children & family
Soft baby hand puppets from Sterntaler for babies and toddlers
Nursery & school
Living Puppets hand puppets as conversation partners for circle time, storytelling and language development
Therapy & care
Joyk empathy dolls for therapy, care homes and dementia support
Punch and Judy & puppet shows
Punch and Judy puppets in the German Kasperle tradition, for the puppet stage and fairy-tale plays
Our brands
Three brands make up the heart of our hand puppet range.
Animals, monsters and human characters with expressive faces, plus Elmo, Bert, Cookie Monster and friends from Sesame Street.
MonstersAnimalsHuman characters
Hedgehogs, red foxes, owls and other animals, modelled closely on the real thing, many of them with a movable mouth or beak →
Long hand puppets that cover the forearm, such as the giraffe and the wolf, plus birds, monsters and soft hand puppets for babies →
Not sure which to choose?
Answer two quick questions and we'll show you characters that fit.
Which type would you like?
What kind of character?
Popular finger puppets: animals
Popular finger puppets: people
Popular finger puppets: fantasy creatures
Popular hand puppets: animals
Popular hand puppets: people
Popular hand puppets: monsters
Popular hand puppets: fantasy creatures
Popular stage hand puppets: animals
Popular stage hand puppets: fantasy creatures
Popular Punch and Judy puppets: animals
Popular Punch and Judy puppets: people
Popular Punch and Judy puppets: fantasy creatures
Finger puppet, hand puppet or stage hand puppet?
How a hand or finger puppet is played depends on how it is made. For hand puppets and Punch and Judy puppets, the product page lists what can be moved under ‘Playability’.
Finger puppet
Most sit on one finger. Several on one hand can tell a whole story – in finger rhymes, at circle time or when you're out and about.
Hand puppet
Your whole hand goes inside to work it. Depending on the model, the mouth or beak, head, arms or front legs can be moved.
Stage hand puppet
Worked from below like a Punch and Judy puppet, so it can be raised above the playboard. Without a stage, it plays like any other hand puppet.
Hand puppets and finger puppets from Folkmanis, Living Puppets and The Puppet Company
A hand puppet can whisper a secret, fall asleep in the middle of a story, or hide behind a child’s shoulder. That makes it something to talk to, which is why hand puppets turn up in children’s bedrooms as well as in nurseries, classrooms and therapy rooms. At daliono.com you’ll find hand puppets from Folkmanis, Living Puppets and The Puppet Company, finger puppets from Folkmanis and The Puppet Company, Punch and Judy puppets for German Kasperle theatre, and dolls from Rubens Barn and Joyk.
Choosing a hand puppet: Folkmanis, Living Puppets or The Puppet Company
Folkmanis models its animals closely on nature, and on many of them you can work the mouth, the front legs or the head, sometimes more than one at once. Living Puppets are at their best in conversation: their big faces make a feeling easy to read, and some characters, among them Elmo, Bert and Cookie Monster, come in more than one size. The Puppet Company’s long-sleeved animal hand puppets cover the whole forearm, and their baby range is soft enough for the very youngest.
A child playing alone often wants something to cuddle as well as to play with. For a nursery group, a large hand puppet that everyone can see works well. As a present from grandparents, a hand puppet is something a child tells stories with rather than just looks at.
Folkmanis →Living Puppets →The Puppet Company →Hand puppets for nurseries, schools and therapy
At nursery and primary school, a hand puppet often becomes a regular member of the group: it says good morning, asks a question or introduces a topic. Speech and language therapists know that a syllable is easier to repeat twenty times when an animal is listening. Therapeutic work goes a step further: a child can say something through a hand puppet without having to say it in their own voice.
All hand puppets →Finger puppets for story time and small groups
Several finger puppets fit on one hand, and two are enough for a conversation. In a group, every child can have one instead of waiting for the one shared hand puppet. Finger puppets from Folkmanis and The Puppet Company are small enough to travel in a coat pocket or a handbag.
Folkmanis finger puppets →The Puppet Company finger puppets →Punch and Judy puppets for Kasperle theatre
In Germany, the traditional glove puppet theatre is called Kasperle theatre. Its hero, Kasper, is the German cousin of Mr Punch. His cast includes Gretel, the grandmother, the robber and the policeman, and the policeman will look familiar to anyone who grew up with Punch and Judy. Most of our Kasperle puppets are made by munabo, by hand in a Czech workshop, and many come in a universal size for the hands of adults and children alike.
Punch and Judy puppets →munabo Punch and Judy puppets →Soft toys and dolls
For cuddling, there are plush animals from Anima and Hansa Creation. Alongside them you’ll find soft dolls from Rubens Barn and empathy dolls from Joyk.
Anima soft toys →Hansa Creation soft toys →Rubens Barn dolls →Joyk empathy dolls →If you need help choosing, we’re happy to advise through our contact form.