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Folkmanis Puppets

Folkmanis® Puppets believes imagination is the key to a healthy childhood, encouraging play and discovery to develop the skills necessary in life. The company has been making the most innovative and engaging specialty puppets in the world since 1976, delighting imaginations and winning nearly every industry, child development, and kid-tested award, many repeatedly.

Conceived as a “cottage industry” business in Watertown, MA., in the late 1960’s and nurtured among the street vendors lining Berkeley’s famed Telegraph Avenue, Folkmanis® Puppets are the expression of Judy Folkmanis’ active imagination, sewing wizardry, and love of nature.

Creating her first animal puppets to entertain her own children, Judy was astounded when her unsung, but cuddly, creations began attracting a growing group of paying customers. Most often these were other parents who sought high play value from their toy purchases and an appreciation of the natural world for their children.

Joined in the burgeoning endeavor in 1976 by her Ph.D. husband Atis—who happily abandoned a career in biochemistry for pattern-cutting—the couple realized that launching a menagerie of carefully detailed and realistic animal puppets was their “right livelihood.” They hired several seamstresses and never looked back. The rest, as they say, is toy industry history.

Still headquartered in Emeryville, California, today Folkmanis, Inc. has grown to become the premier manufacturer of plush puppets worldwide. Folkmanis® Puppets offers over 200 of the most heartwarming and realistically designed creatures—both exotic and familiar—on the market today. And, after more than 35 years, Folkmanis, Inc. is still a family business. Judy and Atis oversee both the creative and operations sides to ensure that the quality and love of the natural world they wish to convey through their toys remains true to their original vision.

African Lion Cub
African Lion Cub Sold Out
Armadillo Puppet
Armadillo Puppet $58.00
Beaked Dragon Puppet
Beaked Dragon Puppet $83.00
Chameleon Puppet
Chameleon Puppet $53.00
Great Horned Owl Puppet
Great Horned Owl Puppet $103.00
Hare Puppet
Hare Puppet Sold Out
Jack Russell Terrier Pupper
Jack Russell Terrier Pupper $45.00
Kangaroo with Joey Puppet
Kangaroo with Joey Puppet $89.00
Leopard Cub Puppet
Leopard Cub Puppet $55.00
Little Turtle Puppet
Little Turtle Puppet $21.00
Opossum Puppet
Opossum Puppet $81.00
Polar Bear Cub Hand Puppet
Polar Bear Cub Hand Puppet $49.00
Red Octopus Puppet
Red Octopus Puppet $56.00
River Otter Puppet
River Otter Puppet $44.00
Screech Owl
Screech Owl $29.00
Sky Dragon Puppet
Sky Dragon Puppet $82.00
Timber Wolf Puppet
Timber Wolf Puppet $56.00
Woolly Sheep
Woolly Sheep $58.00