Green Frog Paper Bag Puppet

Getting started: When I think about frog art projects for children, I think of frog paper bag puppets. I've found a few nice books with frog characters which young students enjoy when beginning this project. They include: Tuesday by David Wiesner , In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Flemming or Over in the Meadow, illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats. These cute frogs have a way of getting everyone hopping around!

Art techniques: Drawing
Grades:
Kg-2
Ages:
4-7

About this project: To familiarize the instructor with puppet-making, you might want to look through the book
Puppets And Masks: Stagecraft & Storytelling by Nan Rump.
Students will be delighted with the results of these big-eyed frog puppets, all bright and green. This spring art project can take one or two, one hour sessions. Have fun!


Materials:
  • White drawing paper (25cm x 35cm)
  • a selection of colored construction paper
  • scissors
  • Pencils and erasers
  • Oil pastels
  • Brown lunch bags
  • White plastic glue
Directions:
  1. Show how to draw the face of frog, with large eyes. I often work on bright green cardboard rather than white drawing paper.
  2. Cut out the head of the frog.
  3. Demonstrate blending oil pastels, and repeat colors throughout the composition.
  4. Demonstrate how to draw arms and legs with the funny toes.
  5. Draw the belly of the frog, color and cut this out.
  6. Have students make their own. Color with the oil pastels. Encourage blending of different greens and yellows.
  7. Cut out a red tounge.
Part 2
  1. Put hand in brown paper bag so that can open and close the bottom.
  2. Glue head on to the bottom of bag.
  3. Glue on the arms, body, toungue and legs.
  4. With especially fast workers, I have them color in the back of the frog while other art students finish up. It's always fun to add polk-a-dots.
Save this in a notebook of elementary art lesson plans. Have fun!

Art Therapy Ideas: Most elementary art projects are a great way to start an art therapy session. The frog paper bag puppet is a great way to stimulate a child's imagination. Go over some of the character traits of a frog. Have your young client speak in first person, and be the frog. Where would he/she like to hop around when everyone's out of the house or classroom? What sort of adventure would the frog like to go on? What would the frog like to say to other members in his/her family? It would be helpful if the therapist had another animal puppet and used it to create a dialogue. When you have the art piece speak, it's a gestalt art experience. To get more information on this topic, you can to refer to the book by Janie Rhyne called The Gestalt Art Experience: Patterns That Connect.


Jewish Art Projects: Frog art projects for children are fun to do for the Jewish holiday of Passover. Your child or student can bring their puppet to the Seder holiday meal, and say a word or two about the plagues in Egypt.

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