I love St. Patrick’s Day and my family really gets into celebrating the holiday. My son is currently obsessed with leprechauns so I thought it would be fun for him to make a leprechaun paper bag puppet. Since we had all of the supplies on hand, this project was quick and easy to make.
Supplies Needed:
paper lunch bag
green construction paper
orange tissue paper
googly eyes
markers
glue stick
scissors
buttons/pom-poms
How-To:
First put your bag on top of the green construction paper and measure the bag so that your green rectangle with cover the length of the bag from its opening to under the flap fold. Glue your rectangle onto the bag, leaving the flap free. The flap is going to be the face and needs to be able to move freely with a hand inside it to look like the leprechaun is talking.
Our orange tissue paper came in precut 1-inch squares. If yours is not already in small pieces, cut yours into squares. We used 8 squares to make our leprechaun’s beard. My son glued the tissue around the flap to make the beard.
Next, measure the width of the bag on your green paper and cut out a hat shape. My son drew a black line across his hat for the buckle adornment. Glue your hat to the top of the flap.
Now you get to make your leprechaun’s face. My son stuck on googly eyes and drew a smile with a red marker.
Our leprechaun was looking a little plain, so we added 3 yellow buttons to his “coat.” My son was happy with how his leprechaun paper bag puppet looked and didn’t want to add anything else to it. I had printed off some little shamrocks and thought it would be fun to add them to the puppet, but my son was already off and playing with his puppet!
The leprechaun puppet is making “mischief” around the house and very successfully avoiding all of my son’s leprechaun traps 🙂 What trouble will your leprechaun get into? Check out my St. Patrick’s Day book recommendations to read with your puppet. It might inspire you to make some leprechaun traps of your own!
I love making paper bag puppets with kids! Their imaginations really take flight and I just love how creative kids are and watching them play with their puppets. Paper bag puppets don’t need a lot of supplies, so they are usually easy to pull together when the crafting mood strikes. My son loves tigers so we made a tiger paper bag puppet together and it turned out so cute!
If you don’t have googly eyes, pom-poms, or pipe cleaners feel free to substitute or draw on a face!
How To:
Print out the tiger puppet template. I made it available as a free PDF download. You can always make your own out of construction paper if you don’t have a printer.
Color your tiger template. My son went with the traditional orange and black tiger, but use any colors you like.
Cut out the pieces and then glue them onto the paper bag. The side of the bag with the flap is the front. Be careful not to glue the flap shut when adding the oval body and the face to the flap. We used a glue stick, but white school glue will also work.
Glue the arms onto the front of the bag. Position them any way you like. Then, glue the tail onto the back of the bag (with the colored side facing you). Position it so that it is sticking out off to one side so you can see it.
Now for the tiger’s face! We used stick-on googly eyes, a black pipe cleaner, and a black pom-pom for the nose. For the whiskers, I folded one pipe cleaner in half and then cut it at the fold, making 2 pieces. I added a glue dot to the center of the bag and my son squished the pipe cleaner pieces onto the glue dot. I like to use glue dots because I don’t have to wait for the white glue to dry. Next, I added a glue dot on top of the center of the pipe cleaners and my son squished on the black pom-pom to make a nose. lastly, my kiddo drew on a mouth with a black crayon. Now his tiger was ready to roam around our house!
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Paper bag puppets are one of my favorite go-to crafts! They are easy to make with supplies we already we have at home and my son always has fun playing with them. He ran around the house making his turkey paper bag puppet gobble at everything!
Supplies Needed:
-paper lunch bag
-construction paper in red, orange, yellow, and brown
-googly eyes (my son really likes these colored eyes)
-scissors
-white school glue
How to:
First thing to do is to cut out tail feathers. I cut out 2 of each color: red, orange, yellow, and brown
My son decided what color pattern order he wanted for his feathers. Then he glued the feathers onto the back of the backside of the bag. (The FRONT has the flap). We used white school glue to attach our paper feathers.
Next, flip your bag over to work on the turkey’s face. I cut out a yellow square, which I folded diagonally to make a beak. Then I cut out a red snood (kind of a squiggly shape).
My kiddo glued on the beak and snood. Then he attached his googly eyes and his turkey paper bag puppet was complete!
More Turkey Fun!
We read Animals on the Farm: Turkeys by Kari Schuetz and learned all about turkeys. This book has awesome pictures and was written at an easy to understand level. My son was so intrigued by how weird turkeys’ heads look! One of the cool things about this book is that it teaches the names for a turkey’s body parts, like a wattle and a snood. We found this book at our library. See if your library has a copy!
Check out my FALL postfor more book recommendations and fall-themed crafts that you and your preschooler can enjoy together 🙂 My son and I also made a Scarecrow Paper Bag Puppet. We think it turned out pretty cute!
Fall is here and it’s time to read some scarecrow stories and make a craft. We made a scarecrow paper bag puppet out of supplies that we had at home and I think it turned out pretty cute!
My son loves Julia Donaldson’s books! This is a cute, rhyming story about 2 scarecrows, Harry and Betty, who fall in love and plan their dream wedding. They set out in search of everything they need for their wedding. Harry and Betty find that they have to temporarily separate in order to get all of the decorations they need. The farmer notices that Harry is missing, and adds a new scarecrow. The new scarecrow tries to come between the happy couple. He smokes a cigar (Betty says “don’t you know that’s bad for you?”) and causes a fire. Yikes! Harry returns to save the day! They have their dream wedding with all of their friends 🙂
Otis the tractor has several wonderful stories. In this fall-themed one, the farmer introduces a new scarecrow to the farm. Everyone is excited to meet the scarecrow, but its frown drives them all away. The scarecrow stands silently scowling in the field, day after day. Otis worries about the scarecrow being friendless and decides to befriend him. During a game of who can sit silently the longest, Otis decides to sit quietly by the scarecrow. The farm animals join him and they all stay quietly together until the puppy gets the wiggles! Otis thinks he might have seen the scarecrow smile just a little bit to be surrounded by friends.
In this circular story, chicken wants scarecrow’s hat. With some great problem solving skills and a gift for bartering, she goes around the farm trading things with all of the animals until she gets something to trade scarecrow for the hat. The reader finally learns why chicken wants the hat so badly — for a nest!
I was desperate for some scarecrow stories to read with my preschooler and I saw this and bought it without really checking it out first. I am so happy I bought this book! This is a truly lovely story about seeing the good in others. The scarecrow and the crow become best friends. They see each other through the ups and downs of life, side-by-side. Get ready for compassionate feelings to bubble up and smiles to form as you read this one!
The silly old lady is back in this fall-themed story. She goes on a stomach-filling journey, gobbling up fall items (a pumpkin, a rope, and some leaves). Preschoolers will laugh away at all of the silliness going on in this book! What does she make with all of the stuff? Do you think its a scarecrow?
6. The Lonely Scarecrow by Tim Preston —
This book is an amazing tactile experience. The pages have ridges and shapes to touch and feel that compliment the lovely pictures. This is a beautiful story that teaches readers that just because something looks scary/different/unpleasant, doesn’t mean that it is. The animals are all afraid of the mean looking scarecrow, leaving it all alone. How can the scarecrow convince them that it wants to be friends? When the snow comes and falls over the scarecrow, it turns it into a friendly looking snowman. The animals flock to the snowman and the scarecrow finally has friends. Will the new friends remain after the snow melts? Check this one out from your library to find out.
Looking for more fall-themed stories? Check out my list of FALL BOOKSandAPPLE-THEMED activities.
Scarecrow Puppet Craft
Scarecrow Paper Bag Puppet
Make a fun scarecrow paper bag puppet with only a few supplies:
1 paper bag (lunch size)
construction paper
scissors
glue stick
googly eyes
a marker
My son picked out all of the colors for his scarecrow: greet hat, brown face, blue shirt, pink cheeks, blue patch, and yellow straw.
I cut out the shirt, face, cheeks, patch, and hat for him. He cut the yellow straw pieces.
First, my son glued the blue shirt onto the bag. Next he glued the face onto the flap of the bag. He glued the straw to the underside of his hat before gluing the hat onto the scarecrow’s head. Next, we flipped the puppet over and my kiddo glued straw pieces to the back of the sleeves. This made it look like straw was poking out the shirt.
After gluing all of the pieces onto the paper bag, my son picked really big googly eyes for his puppet. He stuck them on the scarecrow’s face, slightly under the straw. He drew on a great, big smile with a green marker for his finishing touch.
Alphabet Worksheet
Alphabet Maze
Make your way through this straw bale maze to get to the scarecrow at the end. Color the bales in alphabetical order to find your way out.
Click HERE to download this free PDF version of the Alphabet Straw Bale Maze for your preschooler to practice their alphabetical order skills.
Fall I Spy
If you haven’t already tried this fall-themed I Spy, now is your chance! It is full of cute fall-ish things that I love: hedgehogs, leaves, sunflowers, pumpkins, and of course, scarecrows! How many of each picture can you find? Write your answers in the boxes next to their pictures.
I hope you enjoy these scarecrow stories and craft!
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Maltipoo Dog Reading Laura Numeroff’s “If You Give a Dog a Donut.”
Did you know that August 26th is Dog Appreciation Day? Pretty cool! Let’s celebrate by reading dog stories, making a dog paper bag puppet, and doing a fun Dog-Themed I Spy challenge, !
DOG STORIES:
There are so many great dog stories out there to read — it’s hard to narrow it down to just five.
When I asked my son what his favorite dog book is, he immediately said Karma Wilson’s book, A Dog Named Doug. Doug the dog is a digging machine. He digs a holes to everywhere and gets into a bit of trouble along the way. The book ends happily with Doug digging a hole into his family’s bedroom for a bedtime cuddle. My son loves this book and he laughs every single time we read it. We have checked this out from our library numerous times, and we hope you will check it from yours too! It is also available on Amazon if you want to buy it.
Goodnight, Good Dog by Mary Lyn Ray is one of my son’s bedtime favorites! It is a sweet and soothing story that is perfect for bedtime cuddles. The dog isn’t ready to go to bed yet, and even though everyone and everything is sleeping, dog can’t help but think about its fun day. As dog explores the sleeping house, it begins to grow tired, but just a little bit. Eventually dog falls asleep in its moon-shaped bed and has sweet dreams until it is time to wake up and play again.
The dog in the story, Love is My Favorite Thing, by Emma Chichester Clark, reminds me so much of one of our dogs — both of them are so joyful and so full of LOVE (even if they do get into a little trouble)! I could substitute my dog’s name for the character’s name and it would basically be a true story! In this book, the dog, Plum, and her family show the unconditional love we all feel for our family, both two and four-legged.
If you are a fan of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, then you’ll also like Laura Numeroff’s If You Give a Dog a Donut. Turns out if you give a dog a donut, a great story ensues! This cute story is a fun read-aloud and good introduction to sequencing. Be prepared for your little one to request a donut to go with this book! Find a copy at your library, or buy it onAmazon.
Our last dog book is Pug Meets Pigby Sue Lowell Gallion. We discovered this book at our library and checked it out so we could read it at bedtime. This is a really cute story about a little pug who gets jealous of the new pet pig, who seems to disrupts all of pug’s routine activities. Kids experiencing their own bouts of jealousy with new siblings or classmates, as well as kids who are anxious about changes in their routines, can relate to pug’s feelings. Ultimately the two become friends and both of them learn that even though new changes can be worrisome, it can also lead to fun experiences and new friends!
DOG PAPER BAG PUPPET:
Make your own super cute dog puppet from a paper bag and construction paper!
First, pick out which color ears, nose, and tummy you want your dog to have. Cut out 2 ears (we made long, floppy ears), an oval tummy, and a small, round nose. Cut out a long, pink tongue – make sure it is long to partially hide it under the flap of the bag.
Now that your pieces are cut out, it is time to glue them on to your paper bag. We used a glue stick for this. Make sure that the folded side of the bag is facing you before you start glueing.
Glue on your ears, nose, and tummy. Then, lift the flap and glue your tongue down onto the bag, so that it partially under the flap. When you put your hand in the bag and move the flap, it will look like your dog is opening its mouth.
Last, pick out googly eyes for your pup. Attach them to complete your dog puppet.
I SPY CHALLENGE:
How many of each dog can you find in this picture? Write the number in the box next to the picture of each dog.
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