DLTK's Holiday Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Puppet:
Leprechaun Craft

Click here to see a full size photo of the finished craft.  Tasha (Age 5) and Kaitlyn (Age 2) made it together.  We printed the black and white version and coloured with markers.  Close the photo window when done viewing.

Materials:

• a paper lunch bag
• a printer,
• some crayons,
• scissors,
• glue,
• paper
   
  Optional: 
• big wiggly eyes
• green paper.

Templates:

• You can either print just template #1, template #1 & #2 or all three templates.
  • The more children you have per adult and the younger the children are, the simpler (less templates) you want the craft to be.
  • If you aren't sure how many templates you should use, print all 3, but hide #2 and #3.  If the kids make it through #1 and are eager for more, bring out the others.  If they are tired of crafting, save them for another day.
• Colour (as required) and cut out the template pieces.

GET FAMILIAR WITH YOUR PAPER BAG:

• I'm going to walk through this slowly, so bear with me.  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!
• 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 leprechaun's mouth,
  • When the child put's her hand in the bag, she'll be able to make the leprechaun 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 3) 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 (you can always peek at the picture above if you get confused)!

TEMPLATE #1

• Glue the mouth underneath the flippy tab, so that most of it shows when the tab is closed (on the template, I drew an arrow to give you an idea of how much should show).  Glue the second mouth piece on top of the flippy tab.  When the flippy tab is flat down, the two pieces should join neatly (that's the instructions, but don't be too worried about the exact location for really young children.  Just let them have fun)...  You'll notice from our picture that we glued a bit too far under the bag so you can't see much of the tongue when the mouth is closed.
• Glue the nose onto the HEAD above the mouth.  If you like, you can use a large pom pom for the nose instead of the paper template piece.
• Glue the eyes onto the HEAD above the nose.  If you like, you can use wiggly eyes instead of the paper template pieces.
• Glue the eyebrows onto the HEAD.
• You can cover the entire body with a piece of green paper (construction, tissue, or wrapping paper all work well.
• Glue the buttons onto the body.  If you're going to use template #2, make sure you glue the buttons far enough down to leave room for the tie.

TEMPLATE #2

• Glue the tie under the mouth (try not to cover up too many of the buttons)
• Glue the hat band and buckle onto the hat.
• Glue the hat onto the leprechaun's head.

TEMPLATE #3

• Glue the arms into the FLAP
   

Printable Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Template 1   (color)   or   (B&W)

Template 2   (color)   or   (B&W)

Template 3   (color)   or   (B&W) 
 

Printable version of these instructions