This is a quick image guide on how I built my Slimey the Worm from Sesame Street puppet replica. I tried to provide a lot of pictures for you to give you ideas on how you can build your own. Enjoy and feel free to ask me anything. I do not sell any replicas. This is simply a fun hobby I do for recreation only.

Cut out a chunk of upholstery foam.

Keep cutting it down with scissors to make it round. I ended up with about 7″ long and 3″ in circumference. I used Scotch-Brite to sand it down and remove the jagged cuts.

For the ends I keep cutting it down so it develops a circular shape. I also sanded that with Scotch-Brite. I then put a cut in with a razor blade for the mouth.

I started working on the rods by creating them out of wood dowels and steel wire. I drill holes into the wood dowels, put epoxy on the steel rod, and put it into the dowel. I then paint it all black.

I start painting the worm body with acrylic orange paint. I wet down the paint so it’s more of a light yellow orange. After I finish painting the entire body and letting it dry for a bit, I took it to the sink and squeezed out the excess paint. I then did a light rinse and squeezed out the water to lighten up the color even more.

I let that dry for a bit longer and then I added fish line through the bottom of the mouth/jaw. I used a tool that is used to thread a needle to pierce the foam and pull the fishing line through. I knotted it on the top of the bottom jaw to keep it in place. Later, I glue the tongue to it for more support.

I then started using masking tape to mask off the areas to paint the darker stripes. I used a mix of red and orange acrylic paint for the color.

I finished the stripes and painted the inside of the mouth red. I let it all dry for a long time.

I used black acrylic paint to squeeze out drops to create the eyes.

I used my Cricut to design and cut out the tongue from fabric sticky paper. I use red permanent marker to add features to it. I then glue that on to the mouth on top of where I knotted the fishing line.

I then attach the rods to the body of the worm. I bend the end of the rods to 90 degree angles, cover the ends with contact cement, and slowly pierce them through the foam.

I let all that dry while I started working on a mechanism to pull the fish line to open the mouth. For some reason my mind came up with the idea to use the trigger from a spray bottle. I took apart the trigger and got rid of the unnecessary pieces. I end up attaching the trigger to the bottom of the front rod by drilling a hole in the bottom of the rod and gluing in the piece of the spray trigger.

I drill a small hole in the handle of the rod to run the fishing line through. The line gets ran through the hole and through the center of the spray trigger.

The fishing line attaches to the piece that moves in the mechanism. The line gets pulled when the trigger is pulled.

And that’s it. Now Oscar has is favorite friend Slimey added to the collection.

Here is a video showing how the mouth mechanism works.