I’ve mentioned before that we like to set up open-ended invitations. During our home preschool years I set them up in the morning or after nap time so the kids could explore and create while I was tending to other tasks. Now that both girls are in school I like to have something set up for the afternoons when they get home. It’s usually something very simple that doesn’t require a lot of advanced preparation. Often it will be a play dough activity or a painting project. Other times it will be a craft idea like this paper bag puppet invitation. My goal with these activities is to give the girls time to unwind a little after a busy day. Some days we all sit together and work while we chat about the day. And some days the girls choose to do the activity later in the evening. It usually sits out on the table until dinner time.
If you’re working in a classroom this is also a great activity to set out during center time. Some kids will take just a few seconds to create their puppets while others will enjoy sitting for an extended period of time.
Materials for Paper Bag Puppet Art
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You can really choose any collage items you have handy in your craft closet. I went through our supplies and chose these items, but be creative and use what you’ve got!
- Paper bags-We had traditional brown on hand but you can use colored or white ones if you have them.
- Assorted sequins
- Paper shapes-I save scraps of paper to use for random projects like this. I trimmed a few strips into squares for patterning and such in this activity.
- Yarn cut into 3 to 6 inch strips
- Buttons
- Assorted jewels
- Googly eyes
- Display tray (optional)-We found this one at Dollar Tree.
- Scissors
- Glue
Make Your Own Paper Bag Puppet
I always enjoy watching how kids approach invitations to create. Tinker was very meticulous about how she placed items on her puppet. After adding facial features she spent a lot of time styling her puppets hair “just so.”
Then she sat and sat and sat as she constructed a beautiful dress for her puppet. She was so proud of how it turned out!
Note: After seeing how much glue Tinker used I slid a piece of tinfoil inside of the bag while it dried. I was afraid that it would be glued shut otherwise. If your child uses this much glue, you might want to do the same. Or you could just slide foil inside to begin with just in case.
Lovey created another puppet later that afternoon, and once they were both dry the girls had fun acting out stories with them.
At the girls’ request we left the materials close by so they could create more puppets soon.
For more paper bag puppet fun, try our community helper paper bag puppets and free printable writing activity.
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