If you go down to the woods today….

Whenever this song comes into my head, it's always my dad's dulcet (well, I'm feeling generous) tones either humming or singing or trumping it.  He says it's a great tune to play when learning to master the trumpet because of the notes it uses and how they travel.  And I can never think of bears without that tune coming into my head.

So yes, bears… this craft started as a polar bear for our January Crafty Box on account of it being the heart of winter but in actual fact, we think these puppets look good in any colour, so your bear could be white, brown, orange, green or multicoloured.  He can be whatever takes your fancy, you could even draw clothes on him.

For your bear puppet you will need;

The template - CLICK HERE

template
scissors
card or heavy paper
tape
glue
barbecue sticks
brads or string
paints or felt pens or decorative paper

Instructions;

Download our template, print and cut out the 3 bear parts.

Draw around your 3 templates onto the card (or heavy paper) and cut them out.  If he's going to be a polar bear and the templates have been printed onto white paper, use the template parts, i.e. the white leg and head parts, body and back legs.

Using tape, attach the sticks to the lower part of the front legs and head and the back legs.

If you want him to be coloured or patterned, now is the time to transform him with paint or patterned paper etc.  If your bear is going to the picnic, perhaps you will want him to wear a hat and a tie.

Apply glue to the back side of the leg templates and stick them to their corresponding shapes – so sandwiching the sticks between the card and paper.  Stick the body part to it’s corresponding card body part.

Take a pen and press through where holes are indicated with dots.

Pushing brads through the holes you have made, attach the legs and head to the body.  If you don't have brads, you can use string and tie knots to hold it all in place.  We tried this and it works as well as brads and looks just as nice as you can see from the bear below.  

Take your bear to the picnic or make up another story for him to star in. 

*N.B. You can make this using just one side of card with the sticks taped on the back but we found that the sticks were more secure sandwiched between card and paper and the bear less flexible.  We used one side card because he moves better if he is stiff and paper is easier to print on.

* Also N.B.(!) You can use 2 sides of card or 2 sides of paper and/or decorate both sides differently so that your story can contain more than one bear character.