You can make a grey cat like the one in the picture or use different colors for an orange, brown, tan or black cat.

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 kitty cat can encourage even very shy children to take part in circle time.

Materials:

• a paper lunch bag
• two sheets of construction paper or paint in the color you're making your kitty,
• a printer,
• some crayons,
• scissors,
• glue,
• paper for the printer

Optional:

• big 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.
• Glue the muzzle onto the HEAD.  It should overlap the body a bit.
• Glue the nose onto the HEAD.  It should overlap the muzzle a bit.
• 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 tongue underneath the flippy tab so you can see part of the circle sticking out from under the muzzle.
• Glue three whiskers (long, thin rectangle pieces) onto either side of the muzzle.
• 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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