Zebra Paper Bag Puppet * Moms and Crafters

Add this adorable zebra paper bag puppet to your imaginary play puppet collection with this free template. When you’re done, check out this butterfly paper bag puppet too! This post contains affiliate links.

We are back on safari with another adorable animal puppet for you and your little one! Whether you’re new here or already joined us for our monkey, tiger, and giraffe puppets, this lovable zebra will be a welcome addition to your family (or zoo). Crafters of any age can make it easily using inexpensive materials you probably already have at home.

adorable zebra puppet make out of a paper bag

If paper bags aren’t already a household staple for you, it’s worth picking up a pack next time you’re at the dollar store or Target. They’re really handy for crafts, they don’t take up a lot of space, and they’re even recyclable. We do a lot of paper bag puppets here; it’s great for kids to have such easy access to making their own toys.

Because they’re only made of paper, they store flat – and they won’t last forever, so you’ll have easy opportunities to rotate your puppet population, keeping things fresh and exciting without building up clutter.

Paper bag puppets are a great introduction to puppet play. They require almost no skill to operate – just stick your hand in the bag, reach your fingers all the way to the end to control the head, and start performing! Puppets can help children express themselves through role playing and social interaction.

The adult can also use puppets to model language and social skills in an engaging way. Kids often feel more comfortable talking about difficult things through puppets that they aren’t ready to talk about head-on. I personally believe every child should have access to puppets and plenty of opportunities to use them.

detailed shot of the zebra paper bag puppet

These puppets are even more special for kids because they can make the toys themselves! This craft is suitable for any age. It’s all cutting and gluing – a perfect way to have fun while practicing these essential fine motor skills, as well as following directions! If your crafter is very young, you can modify the project to support their individual skill level:

Trace the template onto colored paper before starting.
Print the template on cardstock and have the child color the pieces, instead of having to trace them onto construction paper. Bonus: This also adds coloring to the motor skills they’ll practice!
Even toddlers can make the puppet if a grown-up or older child helps with the cutting!
Instead of cutting out the more complex zig-zag shape of the mane, you can cut it with a straight edge and have the child snip fringes along the side.

Zebras always look so snazzy and ready for an occasion with their bold black stripes. But you never know if they might want to try on another color sometime, so feel free to let your or your child’s imagination run wild when designing this puppet! That’s the best part of arts and crafts – anything goes!

This really isn’t complicated, so let’s get started already!

What you need

Colored paper
Paper bag
Scissors
Pencil
Glue
Markers
Zebra puppet template (free download at the end of this post)

How to make a zebra paper bag puppet

1. Print the template and cut out all the pieces. Trace each piece onto the colored paper of your choice – I used black for the mane, hooves, and tip of the tail; white for the head, tail, legs, body, eyes, and ears; pink for the inside of the ears and gray for the muzzle (that’s the front part of its face where the mouth and nose are). Cut out the parts from the colored paper.

cut outs of the details for the zebra puppet on a paper bag

2. Glue the (pink) inner ear cutouts onto the larger ear pieces. Glue the (black) tip to the end of the tail cutout, the hoof cutouts to the bottoms of the legs, and the muzzle/mouth area to the bottom of the head.

gluing the appropriate details on the puppet ears, tail, legs, and face

3. Use a marker to draw pupils on the eye cutouts and glue them to the head. Glue the ears to the back of the head so they stick out at the top on each side.

4. Use a marker to draw an outline around the eyes and to add nose and mouth features. Draw stripes on the top and sides of the face.

adding facial details to the zebra puppet

5. Glue the mane to the back of the head, sticking out of the top and side (behind the ear)

gluing the mane on the back of the head of the zebra

6. Cut out white paper to cover one flat side of the paper bag (you can trace the bag onto the paper, or estimate)

cutting out the white background of the zebra

7. Glue that white paper onto the paper bag. It doesn’t matter which side you put it on, but that will become the front of the puppet.

8. Position the paper bag so that the bottom of the bag is the top of the puppet. Flatten the bottom of the bag against the flat, white side of the bag. Glue the zebra head to the bottom of the bag/top of the puppet.

9. Glue the tail to the side of the paper bag. Glue the legs with the hooves to the bottom of the front. You can let them stick out a little from the bottom to make them more visible.