Crafts: Shark Paper Bag Puppet

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If you have children, you have probably heard the Baby Shark song. There are many different versions online (some more annoying than others) but it is popular with kids as it is easy to sing and remember. Personally, I think there are way worse songs they could be sharing with me so I let them have their fun in moderation.

Our children have a Baby Shark book published by Scholastic which is based on the song. It is bright and colorful and even includes hand motions to do along with the reading or singing of the song.

An informal pop culture holiday week is held every year to honor sharks—Shark Week takes over the television programming, educators share books, crafts, and more that relate to sharks, and we see advertising with shark themes. I allowed myself to be inspired this year and created two shark crafts for our children.

Shark Paper Bag Puppet

Materials

• Brown paper lunch bag
• Gray construction paper or scrapbook paper 
• Dark gray construction paper or scrapbook paper 
• Red construction paper
• White construction paper  
• Glue stick 
• Scissors 
• Pencil

Steps

1. Gather all your materials. I pre-cut the pieces for our children to make things go more quickly. If your children are old enough, you can have them sketch out the shapes they need to create the craft on their own.

2. Glue on top of the shark's mouth on the top part of the paper bag.

3. Glue on the bottom part of the shark's mouth. It should be glued partially underneath the paper bag flap.

4. Glue on the two red pieces of construction paper to create the inside of the shark's mouth.

5. Glue on the eye. (The other eye is hidden behind the shark's head as the shark is jumping out of the water at an angle.)

6. Glue on the nostrils.

7. Glue on the teeth.

Photograph of teeth by 2211438 from Pixabay 

Shark Teeth Facts

When creating a puppet where the teeth are so prominent, we had to learn about shark teeth!

• Sharks are born with teeth.
• Sharks are continually growing new teeth in the back of their mouth. The new teeth push forward and then replace the old ones that get pushed out. 
• Most sharks have 5 to 15 rows of teeth. 
• They lose about one tooth per week. 
• Lost teeth can be replaced as quickly as in one day. 
• A shark may go through over 20,000 teeth in their lifetime. 
• Great White Sharks may have as many as 3000 teeth at one time. 
• Shark's teeth have a triangular shape. 

Photograph by Simone Moreira from Pixabay

Bonus Craft: Shark Scene

If your children still want to craft after they make their Shark Paper Bag Puppets, then let their creativity go wild with this simple shark scene.

Materials

• Blue construction paper 
• Scissors
• Glue Stick 
• Pencil
• Blue tissue paper 
• Gray Construction paper 

Steps 

1. Gather all your materials.

2. Your child can decide where in the ocean to glue their shark fin.

3. Your child can cut wavy pieces of blue tissue paper to glue onto the ocean. Glue as many layers as it takes to look like the ocean. 

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