Valais Blacknose Sheep Puppet

by Folkmanis

$73.13 ~~$96.95~~ /

Similar products you may like

🐨 100% Australian | Owned & Operated

⭐ 20,000+ Happy Customers | Trusted since 2016
🚚 Fast despatch | Get your products sooner

A curly white fleece, a black nose and a mouth that opens and closes on cue.

🐑 Instant character with curly white fleece and the black nose, ears and knees of a real Valais Blacknose
🗣️ Talking play thanks to a movable mouth worked with thumb and fingers
💪 Stronger hands from opening, closing and steering the puppet's head
📖 Story starter for farmyard tales, show-and-tell and puppet shows
🤫 Silent play with no batteries, no buttons and no sound effects
📏 Hug-sized at approx. 38cm tall, soft enough to cuddle between performances

The Educator's Note

The movable mouth makes children use thumb-against-finger control, the same pinch pattern behind a stable pencil grip, and it gives reluctant talkers a character to speak through.
The face and fleece are detailed and tactile. It looks like a real Valais Blacknose rather than a generic sheep, so children treat it as a character with a personality and not just a prop.
It is a full-sized puppet at approx. 38cm, which gives it genuine stage presence for solo play, sibling shows and classroom story time, and it keeps its appeal well past the preschool years.

Play Specifications

🧒 3 years +

Recommended for ages 3 years +

📖 Storyteller

Role Play & Imagination

🔇 Silent

No sound

👤 Independent Play

Solo / Self-Correcting

👥 Group Play

Collaborative / Multi-Player

🧳 Travel Friendly

Compact / Portable / Car-Friendly

🤏 Fine Motor

Precision & Grip

🗣️ Language

Speech & Vocabulary

💡 Creativity

Innovation & Imagination

The Educator's Note

The movable mouth makes children use thumb-against-finger control, the same pinch pattern behind a stable pencil grip, and it gives reluctant talkers a character to speak through.
The face and fleece are detailed and tactile. It looks like a real Valais Blacknose rather than a generic sheep, so children treat it as a character with a personality and not just a prop.
It is a full-sized puppet at approx. 38cm, which gives it genuine stage presence for solo play, sibling shows and classroom story time, and it keeps its appeal well past the preschool years.

Play Specifications

🧒 3 years +

📖 Storyteller

🔇 Silent

👤 Independent Play

👥 Group Play

🧳 Travel Friendly

🤏 Fine Motor

🗣️ Language

💡 Creativity

Slip a hand inside and this fluffy Swiss mountain sheep comes to life. The movable mouth opens and closes with your child's thumb and fingers, so every baa, chat and story has a voice behind it. Soft, curly fleece makes it just as good for cuddling between performances. It suits children aged 3 to 6 years, when puppet play moves from simple animal sounds to full farmyard stories. At 3 years they copy the sounds. By 5 or 6 they are writing the script and directing the show.

Also available in a great value bundle

Chosen for children who love animals, stories and talking in character.

The 3 to 4 year old who is moving from animal sounds to short conversations and needs a friendly character to practise with.
The 4 to 6 year old who stages shows for family, directs siblings and invents plots with a beginning, middle and end.
The quiet or cautious child aged 3 to 5 who finds it easier to speak through a puppet than as themselves.
Anyone shopping for an animal-loving child up to 6 who already has a toy farm, or a teacher or carer building a story-time kit.

Meet the Sheep with the Black Nose

The Valais Blacknose is a hardy mountain sheep from Switzerland, instantly recognisable by its black nose, ears, knees and feet and its thick curly white fleece. Folkmanis has captured all of it here. The fleece has a pleasing, tactile texture, and the face is expressive enough that children give it a personality within seconds. At approx. 38cm tall, it is a proper full-sized hand puppet. It is soft and floppy, so it needs a hand inside to perform, which is exactly what makes it so engaging.

What Puppet Play Builds

The movable mouth is operated by the thumb working against the fingers. Every time your child opens and closes it to "speak", they strengthen the same small hand muscles used to hold a pencil and cut with scissors. It also asks for coordination. The puppet has to turn its head, face its audience and open its mouth at the right moment. The bigger gain is language. Children find their voice through a character. A shy 3-year-old who won't answer a question will often chat happily through a sheep. Older children try out dialogue, accents, jokes and plot twists, all of which build vocabulary and storytelling structure needed for early writing. As their confidence grows, play moves from copying animal sounds to scripted shows with a beginning, middle and end.

Where It Fits in Your Play Space

It pairs naturally with farm animal figures, a barn or a toy tractor, so the sheep can star in the story or be the narrator. It also works for show-and-tell, bedtime stories and sibling shows. Play is silent, with no batteries to replace, so it suits quiet corners, car trips and rainy afternoons indoors.

Only 1 In stock

We ship daily around Australia. Orders placed before 10am are typically shipped on the same day.

Shipping is calculated based on your location and the items in your cart.

For your piece of mind we offer a 30 day return policy

Post code

State

Available Shipping Options:

Valais Blacknose Sheep Puppet

Buy now

Why gift givers choose this

Full-size puppet at approx. 38cm tall, big enough for small hands and a proper stage presence
Movable mouth that gives a real sense of speaking and builds hand strength
No batteries and no sound, so it works anywhere from the car to a quiet bedroom
Distinctive breed with the black nose and curly fleece of a real Swiss mountain sheep
Grows with them from simple animal play at 3 to scripted shows at 5 or 6