One of my favorite "puppets" to use with kids are Peepers. (Be careful googling that!) Peepers are a set of eyes you wear on your fingers and they turn your hands into an instant puppet. Then your job is to fire up your imagination and see what you can come up with.
When introducing Peepers (also known as finger-eyes) to kids, I always start with the same song: "Mister Turkey and Mister Duck."
Nancy Stewart recorded this song and she gives it away for free on her website! She has lyrics and a mp3 of the song. (She has tons of songs for preschoolers!)
The structure of this song is simple. I love to go around the circle and ask my students for an animal that makes a noise. Then we will sing about Mister Dog and Mister Lion or Mister Monkey and Mister Bumble Bee. We sing about what ever their imaginations can come up with!
The kids also enjoy "Loud and Quite" from the album Sing Along by Caspar Babypants. This is a fun song where our Peepers get to be all kinds of animals and we get to talk about the dynamics of a song!
You could also easily use Peepers in "Old MacDonald" or any song about animals.
You can order adult-sized Peepers and child-sized Peepers. (Unfortunately, you can't order the child-sized peepers online, but keep an eye out for them in the party favor area of Target.)
PLEASE NOTE: Peepers are a choking hazard. With children under three, only uses with adult supervision.
The child-sized peepers linked to above are much more durable, but the adult-sized tend to lose their googly-eyes. (The eyes are easy to pop back in and can be secured with hot glue.)
Happy Singing!