Baghead Puppet

"Dog" by Sarah

This cute puppet can be made into any animal or person and is only limited by the child's imagination. I would recommend this project for grades 2-5, with younger children needing more assistance.

Materials:

• Brown paper lunch bag
• Newspaper
• Scrap material
• Felt
• Rubber band
• Stick or old wooden ruler
• Tacky glue
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Markers
• Ribbon, glitter glue, sequins, etc.

Procedure:

1. Crumple up newspaper and stuff the bag about 1/3 full. Do not stuff too tightly, as the bag could rip.
2. To attach the head to the body, take the stick or ruler (For my class, I used yardsticks from our home improvement store cut into 1 ft. sections), and insert it inside the stuffed bag. Wrap the rubber band around the base of the stick (opposite end from where the bag is), until it is snug. Move it up the stick and over the bag until it is firmly under the stuffed portion of the ‘head’.
3. Draw a basic shirt pattern on a scrap piece of paper or newspaper and cut it out. Using this pattern, trace it on the material two times. Cut out the shirt.
4. Using more scrap paper, draw a basic hand. Cut out this pattern and trace it four times onto the felt. Cut out the hands and glue together in pairs to form two hands.
5. Laying the puppet flat on the table, place one of the shirt pieces under the puppet and the other shirt piece over the puppet. Put glue on the bag (the part inside the shirt) and along the edges of the shirt (NOT THE BOTTOM OF THE SHIRT…You will need this open to put your hand in!). Putting glue on the bag will help the puppet to “keep his shirt on.”
6. Before the glue dries, place the hands inside the sleeves, adding more glue as needed.
7. Decorate the puppet as desired with hair, drawing on a face, and placing ribbon and designs on the shirt.
8. When the glue is dried, it is ready for play!

Copyright © 2001 RBG Crafts

If you do not see the table at the left, please click here.