Add a hippo to your puppet zoo with our Hippo Paper Bag Puppet! Your kids will love crafting their hippos, and then love playing with them when they’re done. You’re going to love all the fine motor practice and time spent together as a family. All you need is some construction paper, glue, scissors, and a paper lunch sack, and you’re ready to go!
Hippo Paper Bag Puppet
Our house is looking more and more like a zoo every day! We recently finished up our Sloth Paper Bag Puppet, Zebra Paper Bag Puppet, and Koala Paper Bag Puppets, and we had so much fun! I knew we needed to add another animal to our collection, and we decided on a hippo. Who doesn’t love a hippo?
Our family loved gathering around the table and transforming a simple paper lunch bag into a puppet the kids could all play with together. We ended up with an entire hippo family to add to our puppet zoo!
The kids loved imagining make believe stories of hippos stuck in New York City or hippos accidentally ending up at Disneyland. I loved listening to them playing together without bickering or fighting! A win-win!
When your kids are finished playing with your zoo of animal puppets, you might be able to convince them to start a fairytale collection, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Mirabel.
How to Make a Hippo Paper Bag Puppet
Supplies
- Construction papers
- Pencil – to trace the template
- Craft glue
- Sharpie or gel pen
- Paper bag
Printable Template
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Directions
- Grab colored construction papers for the hippopotamus figure. The template includes the top part of the head, inner ears, upper legs, lower legs, nails, teeth, belly (oval shape), and lower part of head. Trace the template patterns on the selected craft papers and cut out the traced pattern.
- Glue the nail cutouts on the leg cutouts.
- Glue the inner ear cutouts on the ear parts of the top part of the head.
- Glue the 2 head pieces together.
- Use a sharpie or pen to draw the mouth-line and the nose of the hippo puppet.
- Glue the eyes on the top part and glue the teeth along the bottom side of the mouth-line.
- Measure and cut out a piece of paper to cover one side of the paper bag. This will be the front side of the paper bag puppet.
- Glue the 2 short leg patterns on the bottom side of the paper.
- Glue the paper on the paper bag, keeping the legs facing the open end of the bag. This will be the bottom side of the puppet.
- Glue the oval cutout (belly) on the front side (near the bottom part) of the paper bag puppet.
- Flatten the bottom side of the bag with the front side and glue the head pattern on the bottom side.
- Glue the 2 long leg cutouts on both sides (left and right) of the hippo paper bag puppet to complete the craft.
Tips and Tricks
- Your kids might like making a bright yellow or pink polka-dotted hippo, and that’s totally fine! Let them express their creativity through their own unique style.
- If your kids aren’t feeling like puppets right now, they can just piece their hippo together and use it as a decoration for their room, on their Valentine’s Day box, or as a card for a friend’s birthday!
- If you have little kids, you might need to help them cut out their pieces, or have an older sibling team up with a younger one.
More Ideas…
Want some other animal themed crafts to do with your kids? Check out our Animal Headband Templates, Printable Fish Template or Handprint Cow for more fun animal ideas to do with your kids!
Whatever you end up doing with your new hippo friend, don’t forget to share your finished project with us on Instagram by tagging us at @frostingandglue. We can’t wait to see what you decided to do with them!
Hippo Paper Bag Puppet
This adorable Hippo Paper Bag Puppet is so easy to make and your kids will love playing with it when it's put together!
Materials
- Construction papers
- Pencil – to trace the template
- Craft glue
- Sharpie or gel pen
- Paper bag
Instructions
Grab colored construction papers for the hippopotamus figure. The template includes a top part of head, inner ears, upper legs, lower legs, nails, teeth, belly (oval shape), and lower part of head. Trace the template patterns on the selected craft papers and cut out the traced pattern.
Glue the nail cutouts on the leg cutouts.
Glue the inner ear cutouts on the ear parts of the top part of the head.
Glue the 2 head parts together.
Use a sharpie or pen to draw the moth-line and the nose of the hippo puppet.
Glue the eyes on the top part and glue the teeth along the bottom side of the mouth-line.
Measure and cut out a piece of paper to cover one side of the paper bag. This will be the front side of the paper bag puppet. Glue the 2 short leg patterns on the bottom side of the paper.
Glue the paper on the paper bag, keeping the legs facing the open end of the bag. This will be the bottom side of the puppet.
Glue the oval cutout (belly) on the front side (near the bottom part) of the paper bag puppet.
Flatten the bottom side of the bag with the front side and glue the head pattern on the bottom side.
Glue the 2 long leg cutouts on both sides (left and right) of the hippo paper bag puppet to complete the craft.
How Do I Print A PDF?
You’ll need a program that supports PDFs. Adobe Acrobat is a great option. Open the program, click file then print. Select your printer and the number of copies you want to print. Be sure you click double-sided if you want it to print on both sides.
Can I Resell These?
You may not resell any printable or template that you find on our website or received in your email. You may use them for class parties, at church, at home, or in the classroom. You may get these printed at an office supply store or copy center at your own expense.
