DIY Paper Bag Puppets

DIY paper bag puppets are not only an awesome kids craft for summer, they inspire your kids to use their imagination when playing. Create your own paper bag puppets and put on a family puppet show. Ella and Annie created a few fun animals but don't stop there! Create your favorite characters or even a puppet of yourself! This kids craft project is great for ages 3 and up. What You Need:

• Kraft Paper Bags
• Googly Eyes
• Glue Sticks
• White Glue
• Colored Construction Paper
• Felt Sheets
• Markers
• Scissors
• 2 1/2" Circle Punch
• 1" Circle Punch
• Heart Hole Punch
• Medium Pom Poms
• Pencil
• Ruler

  For each puppet you will need to cut out a face, mouth and body from the construction paper. All measurements are approximate; face 4 3/4" x 3 1/4", mouth 4 3/4" x 1 3/4" and the body 8" x 4 3/4". Reptile (frog, lizard or snake ... my kids and I couldn't agree on what this cutie looked liked! So we went with "reptile". Step 1: Cut out a green face, body and mouth. Use a glue stick to attach the paper to the paper bag. Make sure you cover the side of the bag with the paper flap. The flap will serve as the puppets mouth. Step 2: Cut a 1/2" strip of red paper and wrap it around your finger tightly. This will be the reptiles tongue. Glue the tongue to the inside of the mouth. Using the 2 1/2" circle punch, cut a red circle and fold the circle in half. Glue the circle to the inside of the mouth over the tongue. Step 3: Using a green marker, draw circles on the reptile's body. Add nostrils to the face using a black marker. Glue the googly eyes on the reptile with white craft glue. Pig PuppetStep 1: Cover the bag with pink construction paper. Using pink felt, cut a oval for the pig's snout. Punch two black 1" circles and glue to the pink felt to make the snout. Step 2: Glue the snout to the pig's face. Glue googly eyes to the pig's face. Glue the 2 1/2" red circle (folded in half) to the mouth of the pig. Step 3: Cut two triangles from construction paper to make the pig's ears. Use a black marker to color the inside of the ears. Glue the ears to the back of the pig's head. Panda or Raccoon PuppetStep 1: Cover the body and mouth in black construction paper and the face in white. Cut a small oval from white paper for the stomach. Step 2: Cut two 2 1/2" black circles and two 1" white circles to make the ears. Glue the white circle to the center of each blak circle. Put glue on the bottom half of the circle and glue to the back of the head. Step 3: Cut two ovals from black paper to make the hands. We used a heart hole punch for the white paws on the panda's hands. Glue the hands to the back of the puppet. Fold in half a red 2 1/2" circle and glue to the inside of the mouth. Step 4: Take one black 2 1/2" circle and cut it in half. Glue to the face side by side. Glue googly eyes on top of the black half circles to make the eyes. Add a 1" black circle for the nose. Giraffe PuppetStep 1: Cover the bag in yellow construction paper. Cut a brown oval for the face of the giraffe. Step 2: Draw two upside down u's for the nostrils with a black marker. Then glue on the googly eyes. Step 3: Cut random shapes from the brown construction paper for the spots on the giraffe. Glue on the spots. Use a "T" stencil to make the giraffe's "ossicones". Glue both ossicones to the back of the head. To make the ears cut out two 2 1/2" circles and fold the bottoms in half. Glue to the back of the head, to the side of the ossicones. Step 4: We used an arrow stencil to make the giraffe's tail. Cat PuppetStep 1: Cover the bag with orange construction paper. Cut an oval from the brown paper for the body. Step 2: Glue the folded 2 1/2" red circle on the inside of the mouth. Cut a 1" pink circle for the cat's tongue. Glue half of the pink circle on the inside of the mouth. Glue two brown small pom poms above the cat's tongue. Step 3: Cut a small pink triangle for the cat's nose and glue above the two pom poms. Glue on the googly eyes. Using a brown marker draw on the cat's whiskers. Step 4: Cut two small triangles for the cat's ears and glue to the back of the head. These are just a few of the adorable paper bag animals you can create! Soon after we had these guys completed my kiddos put on a puppet show. We had to buy tickets of course!. Paper bag puppets are a great way to "spark" your kids imagination and spend time with the family. Don't forget to tag #orientaltrading and #ellaandannie with your DIY paper bag puppet creations!