I have built and used several banana puppets. They started small in size, but it seemed that each one I made only whet my appetite for a larger one. This was the giant of the bunch. It has been on stage in several states and has appeared at both the Vent Haven International Convention (twice) and the FCM International Convention.
I carved the banana from a laminated block of builder's styrofoam using a hand saw as my "carving" tool. The big moving mouth operates on a simple "teeter-totter" principle, manipulated from the rear. I made it in two pieces simply so I could get it into the trunk of our car for travel. The two units fasten together with Velcro. When we traveled with this puppet, we had to leave the kids at home for lack of space (just kidding - UPS helped us with transportation a couple times - by transporting the puppet, not the kids!)
"Big Slick" I call him. Pretty much retired now, but I keep him in storage - just in case!
Oh, yes - about the yellow tux. That's another story. I still have it, also - just can't get into it (thank goodness!)
"Have banana, will travel."
