It’s been a while since we shared a paper bag puppet, and I have the perfect one to add to your collection (or start one, if this is your first!) 

My kids tend to get very anxious when they see the doctor. By kids, I mean even babies, but especially when they’re toddlers, they sometimes have meltdowns before the doctor even appears! This paper bag doctor puppet allows children to act out or respond to realistic scenarios from their lives. If they have any anxiety or worries about going to the doctor, a friendly puppet toy is sure to help their fears disappear!

While some of our favorite puppets and puppet plays are fanciful and imaginary, there’s a lot of benefit in using real life characters and scenarios as well. The role play can help prepare children for what to expect and how to act in real situations, and it can help them process events that have already happened by re-enacting them. 

In play, the children are in charge, so they can feel safe and confident to express all their thoughts and feelings about their doctor visit experiences, both past and future. It’s also fun for kids to try out adult roles – perhaps they will be inspired for their future career!

This craft is perfect for preschool and gradeschool age crafters. They’ll be using their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination to trace, cut, and glue the parts together. Following the directions in order is also an important skill to practice at this age. 

Younger or less skilled crafters may need help cutting out the doctor’s stethoscope, since the pieces are smaller and more intricate than the other parts of this project. They’ll also need help tracing. You may also need to show your crafters how to bend the paper in half to cut a slit for step 2.

Another way to simplify the craft is to print the template onto white cardstock and have the children color the pieces with crayons or markers, instead of tracing them onto colored paper. Tracing is a great skill to practice, but we understand that young crafters still want to enjoy puppet-making even if they’re not quite up to tracing yet!

Find your comfort zone, follow your child’s lead, and have fun together making and using this friendly doctor paper bag puppet! Then, head to our archives to choose more puppet friends to join the fun!

What you’ll need

• Colored paper (you can get Colors of the World as well for more skin tone variety)
• Pencil
• Glue
• Markers
• Scissors
• Paper bag
• Doctor puppet template – download and print at the end of this post

How to assemble a doctor paper bag puppet

1. Cut out all the pieces of the template. Trace them onto the colored papers of your choice, and cut them out (if you print the template on white cardstock, you can skip this step for pieces you’re leaving white).

Use markers to draw the irises and pupils in the eye cutouts.

2. Cut a slit along the line inside the hair piece. Slide the top of the head through the slit so that the top of the hair covers the top of the head.

3. Use glue to stick the head to the hair. Glue the eyes onto the head, and use markers to draw a nose and mouth.

4. Glue the shoes to the bottom of the pants/skirt, and the hands to the bottoms of the sleeves. Glue the round accent onto the round end of the stethoscope, and the shirt (the little triangle) to the center of the collar cutout.

5. Glue the pants/skirt to the bottom of the lab coat (the big rectangle).

6. Glue the collar with the shirt at the top of the coat rectangle. You can leave a little extra room at the top (gluing the collar a little lower than the top) because the head will overlap this when the puppet is done.

7. Glue one part of the stethoscope to each shoulder of the coat.

8. Use markers to outline the collar and add buttons to the coat.

9. Take your paper bag and position it so the open end is facing down/toward you, and the base of the bag is at the top. The bottom of the bag will be the top of the puppet.

10. Flatten the bag so that the bottom is facing toward you. Glue the head to the flattened bottom of the paper bag.

11. Glue the body (coat) onto the side of the paper bag below the head (the head should overlap the body a little).

12. Glue the arms to each side of the puppet.

Download the Doctor Paper Bag Template

To download, fill out the form below. You’ll be signed up for our free newsletter – unsubscribe at any time in the footer of the emails. I respect your privacy and the law and won’t share your information with anyone.

The post Doctor Paper Bag Puppet appeared first on Moms and Crafters.

Get your jungle gear on because today we’re going to craft a ferociously adorable tiger puppet! Using just a few materials you can find around your house and a dash of imagination, you and your little one will be ready for a wild adventure.

Puppet play is tremendously enriching for kids of all ages. By acting out scenarios with make-believe characters, kids build social and emotional skills while practicing their language development, too. Parents, teachers, or therapists can get involved to steer puppet conversations toward specific goals, or leave the play entirely open-ended to let kids explore their own thoughts.

Creating these puppets is also great for kids at various stages. Older kids can follow the steps independently from start to finish, while younger kids can gut and glue the shapes that an adult has traced and prepared for them.

Because most of the shapes are on the larger side, it should be accessible for almost anyone who can use scissors. For those who can’t use scissors yet, you can pre-cut the pieces and have them do the gluing. Just let things to when it comes to results!

You can also cut out the pieces on white paper and have little crafters color them.

It’s easy to make a whole family of tigers for friends to play with together! Try varying the end product by drawing different facial expressions on each one to encourage kids to enact a range of emotions. Or check out our other paper bag puppet posts to make some more diverse friends for your little tiger.

Grab your free template at the end of this post and get ready for a roaring good time!

What you’ll need

• Colored paper
• Paper bag (or additional paper to create a bag)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers

How to Make your Paper Bag Tiger Puppet

1. Cut out the template patterns and trace them onto colored paper. We used a variety of shades of yellow and orange for the head, ears, tummy and tail, brown for the stripe on the head, pink for the inner ears, and white for the eyes, paws, and muzzle (that’s the lower part of the face.) We cut the nose out of black paper but you can easily use a scrap from another part and color it black. Cut out all the pieces.

Use a black marker to color pupils on the eye cutouts. Leave a little white spot or make a dot with white-out or pastel to give the eyes extra dimension and expression.

2. Glue the smaller ear cutouts onto the center of the outer ear cutouts. Glue the brown stripe down the center of the head, starting at the top.

3. Glue the ears to the top of the head, attaching them in back of the head. Glue the muzzle, or lower part of the face, onto the bottom of the head cutout.

4. Glue the nose to the center of the face, overlapping the muzzle and stripe. Glue the eyes to each side of the face.

5. Use a black marker to outline the stripe patterns on the head and to create a mouth and some freckles on the muzzle.

6. Color in the stripe outlines with black marker.

7. For the tiger’s body, trace the size of your paper bag onto a piece of colored paper and cut it out.

8. Glue the belly cutout  at the bottom of the body, then glue the paws on each side, overlapping the belly.

9. Use a black marker to outline and color in the stripe pattern on the body and tail.

10. Glue the tail to the side of the body, attaching it to the back.

11. Hold the paper bag, still folded flat, with the base of the bag on top. Glue the head to the base of the paper bag.

12. Glue the body of the tiger to the front of the paper bag, under the head.

Download the Paper Bag Tiger Puppet:

To download, fill out the form below. You’ll be signed up for our free newsletter – unsubscribe at any time in the footer of the emails. I respect your privacy and the law and won’t share your information with anyone.

The post Paper Bag Tiger Puppet appeared first on Moms and Crafters.