How to make Paper Bag Puppets

A recent notification about a Twitter update being retweeted reminded me that I have been seriously slacking in migrating my articles from the soon to be defunct Helium web site. The update in question was an article on how to build a puppet stage from cardboard that was retweeted by LSP @puppet_school, It's a small thing, but I'm grateful for it, since I published over 300 articles on Helium and in December they will disappear if I don't do something to preserve them. 

I've just transferred the puppet stage article, and since this one was related, I wanted to transfer it at the same time.

Making Paper Bag Puppets

Making puppets from paper bags is cheap, quick and easy and is just the kind of activity that will keep your wildly imaginative kids entertained for hours on end. What's more, the fun doesn't stop with the creation of the puppets themselves. Once your kids have a nice collection of paper bag puppet characters they will have to come up with stories to start their own puppet theater to entertain the rest of the family.

Kids love pretend and puppets are a great way for them to explore storytelling and imaginary adventures. With a little help from you they can even create their own puppet home movies. Animals, storybook characters, monsters and even alien creatures will be invading your home, righting wrongs and battling the big bad wolf for the amusement of friends, relatives, classmates and anyone who will listen.

Getting started is as simple as assembling a few craft essentials. All you need is a package of brown or white paper lunch sacks, glue and an assortment of paper or fabric scraps. For puppets with more detailed features pencil, markers or crayons would be helpful. Scissors are handy for older children who are good at cutting but you may want to cut shapes for hair, eyes, noses and mouths, etc., ahead of time. This will make things easier for your junior puppet master.

The bottom of the paper bag will serve as the puppet's face and the flap created by the fold of the bottom against the upper portion of the bag will serve as its mouth. Your child will make the puppet "talk" by inserting his or her hand in the opening for what would normally be the top of the bag and working the flap up and down with their fingers.

To make a puppet simply add eyes and other facial features by cutting geometric shapes from pink, brown, white or black construction paper and gluing them onto the paper bag. To see an assortment of cute animal puppets you can make simply and quickly using very few materials visit Enchanted Learning's paper bag puppet craft page at: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/puppets/paperbag/. A number of other web sites have instructions and templates online for creating all sorts of puppets from animals to holiday themed characters including First School, ABC Teach, and DLTK.

If crafting from scratch is just not your forte it's okay; all hope is not lost as there are a few great craft kits available for wonderful paper bag puppets from Martha Stewart that come with everything you need included. These are available through Amazon.com com, Walmart and local craft stores.

Paper bag puppets are so simple even the most craft challenged adult will have no trouble completing several of them in a manner of hours. The best part is at a cost of just pennies a piece, your child can make as many as he or she wishes.