go to DLTK's Homepage
25 Newest  Activites
Top 10 Activities

  
[all Paper Bag crafts]   [All Animals]    [Mammals]    [Jungle Animals]   [Alphabuddies Letter H]
    

DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Hippopotamus Puppet

This is a fun and easy cut and paste paper craft that uses a paper bag as a base to make a puppet.

Materials Needed:

You can make a grey hippo or use different colors for a blue, white or any other colored version if you feel like getting creative.

bulleta paper lunch bag (white would be good for this project, but brown is ok too)
bulletgrey paint or grey paper  (or color of your choice if you're making a different colored hippo)
  
bulleta printer, 
bulletsome crayons, 
bulletscissors 
bulletglue, 
bulletpaper for the printer

thanks to Sylvia for sending this in!

Optional:

bulletbig wiggly eyes

 

PRINT THE TEMPLATE:

bulletPrint out the template of choice (color or b&w)
bulletColour (as required) and cut out the template pieces. 


GET FAMILIAR WITH YOUR PAPER BAG:

bulletI'm going to walk through this slowly.  Look at your paper bag. 
bulletIt should be closed and flat like a piece of paper.  Just like when they are brand new.
bulletOn one side, it's all smooth.  This will be the BACK of your puppet
bulletIt's important that all the kids get the back and front straight at the beginning!
bulletOn the other side there's a flippy tab (which is typically the bottom of the bag when you're carrying your lunch around...)
bulletThis flippy tab will be the HEAD
bulletLift the flippy tab up a bit.  Underneath of the tab will be the mouth,
bulletWhen the child puts her hand in the bag, she'll be able to make the puppet talk.
bulletLook 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.
bulletLook at the sides of the bag.  There should be a FLAP of paper. 
bulletWe'll be slipping the arms (template 2) into this flap.
bulletIf the kids goof and glue the arms onto the front or back of the bag, it isn't a big deal.
bulletOK, now that we're comfy with our bags, let's craft!

TEMPLATE #1

bulletGrey Hippo:  Cover the paper bag with grey paper (just glue it on and trim) or paint the paper bag grey and let dry.
bulletGlue the tongue underneath the flippy tab.
bulletGlue the teeth under the flippy tab so they're sticking out when the puppet is closed.
bulletGlue the top of the mouth on top of the flippy tab ( onto the HEAD) and the bottom of the mouth under the flippy tab ( onto the BODY)
bulletGlue the eyes onto the HEAD.  If you like, you can use wiggly eyes instead of the paper template pieces.


TEMPLATE #2

bulletGlue the arms into the FLAP.
bulletGlue the ears onto the sides of the HEAD.  Make sure you only put glue on the part of the ears that will be touching the HEAD ... not the parts that will touch the BODY so you don't end up gluing the ears to your work surface. 
bulletGlue the tail onto the BACK. 

 

Printing the Template:

bulletClose the template window after printing to return to this screen.
    
bulletSet 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)

 

 

Printable version of these instructions