Hand puppet

The mouth may be a mere decoration that does not open and close, or the thumb may enter a separate pocket from the rest of the fabric and so simulate a mandible, allowing the puppet to talk.

A glove puppet is slightly more complex, with an internal division for fingers allowing independent manipulation of a character's arms.

Simple hand puppets, especially popular licensed characters, are sometimes distributed as children toys or party favors.

Children usually like to experiment in play with a puppet creating voices and movements and in many cases staging a strictly private performance.

Sometimes special variants exist with additional manipulable parts: (e.g., eyelids that open and close).

Many rod puppets depict only the upper half of the character, from the waist up, with the stage covering the missing remainder, but variations sometimes have legs.

The puppet may shift from side to side, look around, lean or straighten, fidget (with part of the stage, its own clothing or hair, or any available object), cross or uncross its arms, sigh, tilt its head, or make any number of other small motions, in order to continue to appear lifelike.

As put into words by Oscar Wilde, puppets "are admirably docile" and "recognize the presiding intellect of the dramatist".

Quality of hand puppets depends on three main factors: material, design, craftsmanship.