Surly Squirrel and the gang are back. We are once again in Oakton where the evil mayor has decided to bulldoze Liberty Park and build a dangerous amusement park in its place. Surly and his ragtag group of animal friends band together to save their home, defeat the mayor, and take back the park.

In celebration of the movie THE NUT JOB 2, we will be making paper bag squirrel puppets so the kids can act out their favorite scenes!

This post is sponsored by Open Road Films and the movie THE NUT JOB 2.

Have you watched the trailer for this yet? It looks like such a cute and funny movie your kids will love! 

Let’s make these fun squirrel puppets so that they can use their imaginations and play act after watching! The purple squirrel is Surly and the brown squirrel is Andie. Together they intend to save their park.

Double up the fun by using your paper bag puppets as actual bags and go outside for a nature scavenger hunt. An easy craft for kids that doubles as the perfect summer boredom buster!

How to Make Paper Bag Squirrel Puppets

There are two ways to use this pattern, depending on the age of the kids making this craft. You can simply print it out and have the kids color each face and glue them to the bag. If you have elementary aged kids that need a little more of a challenge, print the pattern and follow the instructions below for cutting out the pieces and putting the puppets together.

When you’re all done having your puppet show, print the list of scavenger hunt items below and head outside for the big search!

Supplies you need for coloring the puppets:

• Full face patterns (Surly and Andie)
• Crayons, markers or colored pencils (brown, purple, green, black)
• 2 brown paper lunch bags
• Scissors
• Glue stick

The coloring method is easier for younger children. So if your kids have a younger sibling that wants to play along, simply print the patterns above, have your little ones color them and cut them out, then glue them to the paper bag. Even the littles can make their own paper bag squirrel puppets!

Supplies you need for cut/paste puppets:

• Half face patterns
• Construction paper (white, brown, purple, black)
• Green, brown and black markers (or Crayons, colored pencils, etc)
• 2 brown paper lunch bags
• Scissors
• Glue stick

Print out the half face patterns for your kids. For Surly, take a sheet of purple and a sheet of white construction paper. Stack them together and fold them in half like a greeting card.

Place the straight edge of the Surly half-face pattern along the FOLDED edge of the construction paper.

CUT along the lines of the OUTSIDE of the pattern only, cutting through both sheets of construction paper.

Next, remove the purple shaped face piece, leaving only the white face.

Place the pattern onto the white face and cut out the muzzle and around the entire eye and eyebrow.

Glue the white pieces to the purple face.

Now use the existing pattern and the additional “right side” pattern to cut out the eyes. Color the pupils brown and the center black and color the eyebrows black. Color the nose black (not pictured).

Cut out the actual eyes and eyebrows.

Glue the pieces to the face and draw on a smile.

Glue the completed face to the bottom flap of the paper bag.

Repeat the above process for Andie’s pattern, only this time use brown and white construction paper, and green and black markers for the eyes.

To finish off the paper bag squirrel puppets, cover the front of the bags with brown paper (Andie) and purple paper (Surly) and a strip of white paper for the belly fur.

Go Have a Scavenger Hunt!

After you’ve had your puppet show, print out this scavenger hunt list and take your bags outside to collect your items. This printable list will encourage kids to snoop around their own backyard looking for rocks, twigs, leaves and other items from nature.

After your scavenger hunt, you can find even more projects by browsing the ideas in our nature crafts section. While a prize certainly isn’t necessary it makes for good motivation! Something as simple as a sheet of stickers or getting to choose the movie for family night can be a great treat.

Enjoy the movie (in theaters August 11!) and have fun afterward as well!

You can follow NUT JOB 2 on your favorite social channels here:  

• https://www.facebook.com/TheNutJobMovie/
• https://www.instagram.com/thenutjobmovie/
• https://twitter.com/thenutjobmovie

Print Project

5 from 1 vote

Paper Bag Squirrel Puppets

Author: Amanda Formaro

Supplies

Supplies you need for coloring the puppets:

• Full face patterns Surly and Andie
• Crayons markers or colored pencils (brown, purple, green, black)
• 2 brown paper lunch bags
• Scissors
• Glue stick

Supplies you need for cut/paste puppets:

• Half face patterns
• Construction paper white, brown, purple, black
• Green brown and black markers (or Crayons, colored pencils, etc)
• 2 brown paper lunch bags
• Scissors
• Glue stick

Instructions

Coloring the puppets:

• The coloring method is easier for younger children. So if your kids have a younger sibling that wants to play along, simply print the patterns above, have your little ones color them and cut them out, then glue them to the paper bag. Even the littles can make their own paper bag squirrel puppets!

Cut/paste puppets:

• Print out the half face patterns for your kids. For Surly, take a sheet of purple and a sheet of white construction paper. Stack them together and fold them in half like a greeting card.
• Place the straight edge of the Surly half-face pattern along the FOLDED edge of the construction paper.
• CUT along the lines of the OUTSIDE of the pattern only, cutting through both sheets of construction paper.
• Next, remove the purple shaped face piece, leaving only the white face.
• Place the pattern onto the white face and cut out the muzzle and around the entire eye and eyebrow.
• Glue the white pieces to the purple face.
• Now use the existing pattern and the additional "right side" pattern to cut out the eyes. Color the pupils brown and the center black and color the eyebrows black. Color the nose black (not pictured).
• Cut out the actual eyes and eyebrows.
• Glue the pieces to the face and draw on a smile.
• Glue the completed face to the bottom flap of the paper bag.
• Repeat the above process for Andie's pattern, only this time use brown and white construction paper, and green and black markers for the eyes.
• To finish off the paper bag squirrel puppets, cover the front of the bags with brown paper (Andie) and purple paper (Surly) and a strip of white paper for the belly fur.