Brown Bear Paper Bag Craft
Make an adorable Brown Bear Paper Bag Craft with a simple lunch sack, construction paper cutouts, googly eyes, and glue—perfect for preschool themes, story time, or a “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” activity. Low-prep, budget-friendly, and great for classrooms or rainy-day crafting at home.
If you’ve never read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., you’re missing out! You’ve got to get this book and make this super fun brown bear paper bag craft to go with it. Teaching kids with visual representation has so many benefits. They’ll better remember the story, learn each of the animals mentioned in the book, and will retain more information.
So having them make the craft is even more successful! You can even make a Brown Bear Paper Plate Craft along with this brown paper bag craft. Paper bag crafts are one of my favorite things because you can make so many different fun creations with them. We make a Paper Bag Scarecrow every fall and a Paper Bag Handprint Bee is so fun to make in the spring.
Why You’ll Love This Craft
- It only takes 30 minutes to create this fun brown bear craft! A great craft activity if you have limited time, and you can save it to use at a later date too.
- Cutting, glueing and drawing are all great activities for young kids to work on fine motor skills. They get to make something really cool, all while working on critical skill development.
- This activity is fabulous for visual learners. You’ll keep their attention and teach them new things very easily when there’s something extra fun involved.
Supplies Needed
- Brown paper bag – You can find brown craft paper bags on the same aisle as plastic zip top bags.
- Large googly eyes – Use large googly eyes as part of the little face for your brown bear paper bag craft.
- Brown construction paper – If you do not have construction paper, you can also use brown cardstock.
- Small cup – I like to use a small cup to trace the circle shapes for the nose and ears for each bear. Feel free to freehand these if you prefer.
- Pencil – Any writing utensil will work, but I like using pencil so that I can erase if I mess up.
- Scissors – If you are working with young children, I recommend using safety scissors. That way, kids can cut out the shapes for their paper bag bear craft on their own.
- Black marker – Permanent markers and washable markers will both work. Use whichever you want!
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? – This adorable classic children’s book is always a hit. Check it out from the library or pick up your own copy if you don’t already have it.
- Animal toys – These are optional, but it’s really cool to have animal toys that match the story for sequencing and placing in order as the story is read. I bet you will find a lot of these if you take a peek in the bottom of the toy bins in your home or check out your local dollar store.
How Can I Customize My Brown Bear Paper Bag Craft?
Imagination and creativity are always encouraged and you can make this craft your own with whatever materials you have in your craft cupboard. Add things like glitter glue, paint, stickers, rhinestones, craft pom poms, pipe cleaners, and so much more. I’d love to see the fun creations that you can come up with.
How To Make A Brown Bear Paper Bag Craft
Use the bottom of a cup to trace three circles onto brown construction paper and cut them out.
Flip the paper bag to where the flap is facing down and the opening of the bag is facing the top. Glue two of the circles to the top of the bag on the back side.
Color the middle of the ears with the black marker. Glue googly eyes onto the paper bag bear craft and then draw a nose and mouth on the third circle before glueing it on.
Open the brown bear paper bag puppet and place the small animal toys inside. As you’re reading the story, pull each animal out as they’re mentioned!
Pro Tips
- Make sure you don’t put too much glue on the ears. If the glue runs down the bag, it will cause the bag to glue shut.
- Are you making this craft with a large group of children? Use some glue dots for all of the decorations to avoid mess and make things go more smoothly.
- Paint the animals to match the colors in the story if desired.
This brown bear paper bag craft is such a fun addition to the already adorable brown bear story! I know you’ll have a blast during story time.
Brown Bear Paper Bag Craft
Ingredients
- Brown paper bag
- 2 large googly eyes
- Brown construction paper
- Small Cup
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Black marker
- Brown Bear Brown Bear
- Animal toys that match the story for sequencing and placing in order as the story is read
Instructions
- Use the bottom of a cup to trace three circles and cut them out.
- Turn the paper bag to where the flap is facing down and the opening of the bag is facing the top.
- Glue the two circles (ears) to the top of the bag on the back side. (Make sure you don’t put too much glue that could end up running which will cause the bag to glue shut!)
- Color in the middle of the ears with the black marker.
- Glue the googly eyes onto the paper bag.
- With the third brown circle, draw a nose and a mouth.
- Glue the circle underneath the eyes.
- Open the bag and place the small toys inside. As the child is reading the story, he/she can pull out the correct animal in order of the story and place the animal in front of him or her. (Note: the teacher isn’t included as a toy in the end.)
More Paper Bag Crafts
- When spring time rolls around, make this cutie little Paper Bag Butterfly. It is inexpensive and uses kids’ handprints, making it more personal.
- Make this Paper Bag Bunny around Easter time for a fun spring time craft. Put on a puppet show or hang them as a garland, the possibilities are endless!
- A Turkey Paper Bag Craft is the cutest thing to make around Thanksgiving. Create colorful turkeys before your family get together or in the classroom.
- This Paper Bag Handprint Reindeer Craft is such a fun Christmas creation. A great activity for winter break when the kids are off of school.
