DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Paper Bag Polar Bear Craft

contributed by Leanne Guenther

This is an easy cut and paste paper craft for kids that uses a paper bag as a base to make a polar bear puppet.

Print out the template you prefer to use (either color or black and white).
Color (as required) and cut out the template pieces. You can look at photos of polar bears to decide how you want to color yours! Polar bears are mostly white to blend in with the snow where they live but they have a black nose and paw pads.
- Their thick white fur gives them camouflage in their environment.
- An interesting fact is that underneath of the white fur, polar bears have black skin. This allows them to absorb as much heat as possible from the sun to keep them warm.

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.
OK, now that we're comfy with our bags, let's craft!

Cover the paper bag with white paper (just glue it on and trim) or paint the paper bag and let dry.
Glue the eyes onto the HEAD. 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 hair between the ears.
Glue the muzzle onto the HEAD. It should overlap the body a bit.
Glue the tongue underneath the flippy tab so you can only see it when the puppet opens his mouth.
Glue the arms into the FLAP so they are sticking out, one on each side.
Glue the feet paws onto the bottom of the BODY.
OPTIONAL: You can add some fluffed up cotton balls to the BODY as fur, if you like.

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).