DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Snowman Craft
My girls both love paper bag puppets. They are fun crafts to make and great creative prompts to use while they are playing, reading, singing or making up their own stories.
Materials:
- white paint and paintbrush
- paper bag,
- a printer,
- glue,
- scissors,
- something to colour with and
- a piece of paper.
- Optional: large wiggly eyes
Instructions:
- Paint your paper bag white or cover with white construction paper (or sometimes you can actually buy white paper bags instead of brown ones -- having said that, my daughter Kaitlyn's favorite part of the craft has always been painting the bag).
- Print out the craft template of choice.
- Colour the pieces as appropriate and cut them out. (cutting may require adult assistance and can be pre-done).
- See the picture above for how the puppet should look when complete.
Get Familiar with your Paper Bag:
- I'm going to walk through this slowly. Look at your paper bag.
- It should be closed and flat like a piece of paper. Just like when they are brand new.
- On one side, it's all smooth. This will be the BACK of your
puppet.
- It's important that all the kids get the back
and front straight at the beginning!
- It's important that all the kids get the back
and front straight at the beginning!
- On the other side there's a flippy tab (which is
typically the bottom of the bag when you're carrying your lunch around...)
- This flippy tab will be the HEAD.
- Lift the flippy tab up a bit. Underneath of the
tab will be the mouth,
- When the child puts his hand in the bag,
he'll be able to make the puppet talk.
- When the child puts his hand in the bag,
he'll be able to make the puppet talk.
- Look at the rest of the front of the bag. (The 3/4 or so of the bag below the part with the flippy tab) This will be the BODY.
- Look at the sides of the bag. There should be a FLAP of paper.
- We'll be slipping the arms (template 1) into
this flap.
- We'll be slipping the arms (template 1) into
this flap.
- If the kids goof and glue the arms onto the front or back of the bag, it isn't a big deal.
- OK, now that we're comfy with our bags, let's craft!
PUTTING IT TOGETHER:
- Glue the eyes onto the head.
- Glue the carrot nose onto the head, underneath the eyes.
- Glue the large black mouth under the flippy tab so it is visible when the mouth is closed.
- Glue the teeth under the flippy tab so they are still visible when the mouth is closed.
- Glue the twiggy "hair" onto the top of the head.
- Glue the arms into the FLAP.
- Glue the three buttons down the center of the body.
Printable Craft Templates:
- After printing, close the template window to return to the main page.
- If the template doesn’t fit on one page, adjust your printer margins:
• In most browsers: Print → More settings → Margins → Minimum
• Or use Page Setup / Printer Setup in your printer dialog
Templates: (color) or (B&W)