Glue two Styrofoam cups bottom to bottom or top to top to make the body. Bottom to bottom will give the body a feminine figure, while top to top will create a rotund body shape. Alternately, you can carve the body out of a piece of Styrofoam with a craft knife.
Glue a Styrofoam ball to the top of the body to form the head.
Thread a piece of string through a bead. Tie a knot at one end to hold the bead.The bead should be larger than the diameter of your straws.
Cut two straws in half. Thread the string with the bead through a needle and thread the needle through both pieces of one straw.
Poke the needle through the body of the marionette near the head. You should have two pieces of a straw with a bead tied on the end sticking out of one side of your puppet.
Thread the needle through both pieces of the second straw where the string comes out on the other side of the marionette. Remove the needle and tie a bead onto the end of the string. Your puppet now has two arms with separate forearms and upper arms.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 on the lower half of the puppet to create legs.
Decorate your puppet. Paint a face on it, glue yarn to the head for hair and glue on pieces of felt, feathers and beads for clothing and jewelry.
Glue three craft sticks together to make a capital H shape.
Tie a string to each craft end of the H. Tie two strings to the feet and two to the arms of the puppet. Add a drop of glue to each connection to hold the strings in place.
Tie another string to the center of the middle craft stick. Glue the other end to the puppet's head