DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Bat Craft

contributed by Leanne Guenther

This is a fun craft to make around Halloween or when doing a "mammals" thematic unit.

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 wings into this flap.
- If the kids goof and glue the wings 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!

For a Black Bat: Cover the paper bag with black paper (just glue it on and trim) or paint the paper bag black and let dry.
For a Brown Bat: leave the paper bag the regular brown paper bag color
Glue the ears to the top of the HEAD
Glue the eyes onto the HEAD just under the ears. If you like, you can use wiggly eyes instead of the paper template pieces.
Glue the nose just below the eyes.
Glue the fangs so they stick out from under the mouth.
Glue the tongue into the mouth so you only see it when the puppet mouth opens up
Glue the wings into the FLAP.
Glue the feet onto the bottom of the BODY
Glue the tail onto the BACK.

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).