Gluing is how most of a puppet actually gets joined — the foam structure, the fabric-to-foam bond, and every detail too small to sew.
The adhesive is a structural choice. Picking by convenience is why puppets come apart at the seams a year later.
Contact cement
is the puppet builder’s default for foam-to-foam and foam-to-fabric. Both surfaces get a coat, both dry to the touch, then they are pressed together and the bond is instant and permanent. It stays flexible when cured, which matters — the foam underneath is going to compress ten thousand times. Barge and DAP Weldwood are the two names you will hear. It needs real ventilation.
Hot glue
is fast and it is everywhere, and it has two failure modes builders learn the hard way. High-temp glue melts foam on contact — you will watch the surface pit as you apply it. And cured hot glue is brittle: it holds fine on a static decoration and cracks off anything that flexes. Low-temp glue on rigid parts, decorative bits and temporary tacking. Not on structure.
Fabric glue
is for hems and small appliqué where a stitch would show. Slow to cure and weak in shear. Useful, narrow.
Spray adhesive
covers large areas evenly and is good for laminating fabric to flat foam sheet. It is much weaker than contact cement and it drifts everywhere.
The hack: glue is a repair material, not a construction shortcut. Anything that carries load — a jaw hinge, an arm attachment, a body seam — gets sewn and glued. The sew holds it; the glue keeps the sew from working loose.