DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Bear Puppet

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

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.
Color (as required) and cut out the template pieces.

I'm going to walk through this slowly, so "bear" with me *hee hee*. 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 bear's HEAD.
Lift the flippy tab up a bit. Underneath of the tab will be the bear's mouth,
- When the child put's her hand in the bag, she'll be able to make the bear 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 bear's 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)!

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).
Glue the nose onto the HEAD above the mouth. If you like, you can use a large red 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 cheeks and eyebrows onto the HEAD.
You can glue pieces of brown yarn all over the BODY and BACK of the bear as fur. Or just decorate with crayons or paints.
If you are doing Template #2, decide now! Do Template #2 before you do the mouth or buttons.

Glue the chest onto the BODY, at the very bottom of the bag.
Glue the bow under the mouth for a boy bear or on top of the head for a girl bear.

Glue the arms into the FLAP
Make sure to set your printer margins to zero to ensure the template prints out properly. (To do this, it's usually FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP on your browser's menu). You might want to turn off the headers and footers too.

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).