Puppets are fun tools for teaching; children are always happy to engage with an activity when invited by a cheerful little puppet.  It is amazing how a smiling cow can encourage even very shy children to take part in circle time.

The cow goes great with farm related songs, stories and games like Old MacDonald or Farmer in the Dell.

Materials:

You can make a brown cow like the one in the picture or use different colors for an dairy, white, tan or black cow.

• a paper lunch bag,
• a printer,
• some crayons,
• scissors,
• glue,
• paper for the printer
• Optional:  large wiggly eyes.

Print the Template:

• You can either print just template one or both 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 both, but hide #2.  If the kids make it through #1 and are eager for more, bring out the other.  If they are tired of crafting, save them for another day or just discard them.
• Color (as required) and cut out the template pieces.

Get Familiar with Your Paper Bag:

• I'm going to walk through this slowly.  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 mouth,
  • When the child puts her hand in the bag, she'll be able to make the puppet 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 2) 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!

Template #1

• Cover the paper bag with construction paper (just glue it on and trim) or paint the paper bag and let dry -- if you're making a brown cow with a brown paper bag, you can skip this step.
• Glue the nose onto the HEAD.  It should line up with the bottom of the flippy tab.
• 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 ears onto the sides of the HEAD.
• Glue the horn onto the top of the HEAD.
• Glue the tongue underneath the flippy tab so you can see part of the circle sticking out from under the nose.
• Glue the tummy onto the body.

Template #2

• Glue the arms into the FLAP.
• Glue the tail onto the BACK.

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)

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