How to Make a Paper Bag Reindeer Craft

Paper bag reindeers make wonderful Christmastime crafts. These delightful little projects can be made from the most basic craft materials and only take a few minutes to create. This craft makes a wonderful classroom activity or can be done by your child in your own home. Not only will children love making these critters, they can also use them as puppets for hours of fun when they are finished.

Things You'll Need

• Small brown paper bag
• 2 large wiggly craft eyes or black buttons
• Glue
• Red construction paper
• Brown construction paper
• Black yarn (optional)
• Small craft bells (optional)
• Black marker or crayon

Instructions

1. Lay the paper bag upside down on a flat surface, with the flap formed from the bottom of the bag facing up.

2. Glue two wiggly craft eyes onto the front flap of the bag. Center the eyes so that they are in a good general position, with room for a nose and mouth bellow them. If you do not have wiggly craft eyes, use black buttons instead.

3. Trace each of your handprints onto a piece of brown construction paper. You need one handprint of each hand to make the antlers of your reindeer.

4. Make the outline of a small circle on a sheet of red construction paper.

5. Cut out the two handprints from the brown construction paper, and the small circle from the red construction paper to use as a nose.

6. Use glue to attach the two red handprints to the back of the paper bag near the top. The right handprint should go on the right side with the fingers pointing out, and the left handprint should go on the left side.

7. Attach the small red circle nose to the front of the reindeer's face, just below the eyes. Be sure to leave plenty of room for a mouth.

8. Draw a mouth onto the front of the reindeer's face below the nose. This can be as simple as making two U shapes coming from the nose, or a happy face smile.

9. Put some glue in a necklace shape on the front of your paper bag reindeer, it should drape down, kind of like a necklace.

10. Push a piece of black yarn into the glue that you just applied to the bag.

11. Add two or three small craft bells along the length of black yarn and secure them with glue. This will give your reindeer a more creative look, and should resemble a harness from Santa's sleigh. See Additional Resources below for more information on other Christmas crafts.

Tips & Warnings

• Decorate your paper bag reindeer with yarn and bells to make a sleigh harness.

• Sprinkle some gold or silver glitter onto your reindeer to give him a shiny look.

• Supervise young children when they use scissors and glue.

Resources

• Christmas Crafts