Puppet building help needed

[Lequis]

Hello! My school is going to be putting on a traveling kids show performance of charlottes web and we are going to be making all of the animal puppets. We'd like to do a variety of type from hand help for small ones to perhaps marinette style for bigger ones. We don't really have experience and are trying to figure it out. With a small turn around time we don't have much time to really test things. Any advice for materials, building, or anything else would be greatly appreciated!

For those unfamiliar with the show we have to have: 2 goose, sheep, pig, very big pig, rat, and a spider