A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by a hand placed inside it. The puppeteer has his hand over the puppets head and controls the movement of the mouth and the head with other parts of the body hanging over the forearm. Other parts of the body can be operated by using the other hand, strings or rods, or more elaborate puppets may have mechanical apparatus with a remote control. Hand puppets can made simple items found at home such as an old sock, juice container or a paper bag, to more complicated items such manufactured with plastics and fabric coverings.

Creating simple hand puppets are usually part of childrens art and crafts class. Simple household items are used to create the puppets. Socks, juice containers, or small paper bags can be used as the body of the puppets. The eyes can either be drawn in with a marker pen or using paper cut outs. Additional designs could include the lips, the hair, design of the shirt, and others. A kid would usually design a puppet based on prominent character from a cartoon or TV show.

Puppets have been a great way to portray stories with moral lessons through puppet shows. Churches have long been using puppets to evangelize to both kids and adults alike. In fact, there are several puppet manufacturers who specialize in creating puppets based on biblical characters for evangelic meetings, outreach programs and Sunday schools. The puppets would have different skin tones, facial features, hair styles and costumes and props to depict one character from the other.

A beautiful puppet needs to be accompanied by a lively and creative puppeteer. The bright colors and costumes of the puppet may captivate the audience visually, but combined with a master puppeteer, it can become a complete entertainment experience.