When considering children's crafts, most parent's look at several things - how difficult it is, the mess that will be involved, whether or not it encourages the child to use their imagination and the cost of the materials. Making paper bag monsters gets top marks on all of them.
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT? Making a paper bag monster can be as simple or as complicated as you and your child want to make it. If you are dealing with a preschooler, you might want to stick to markers or crayons and a paper bag. Show the child how to stick his/her hand in the folded bag and curl their fingers around the folded bottom. Once they understand that this will be the monster's "head" and the rest of the bag is the body, let them go crazy with the crayons or markers. Most pre-schoolers will need little encouragement to scribble in eyes, a nose and a mouth. Some will forget to add the ears, but that's ok it's a monster, maybe it doesn't have any ears. Too many eyes or no nose? That's alright, too. Don't point out "mistakes" to your child the idea is to let them create a monster that looks right to THEM. For older children, encourage them to create a more advanced version of the monster. Provide them with old (clean) stockings or socks to stuff their monster's head. After placing the stuffing in the top of the bag, crimp the "neck" shut and use a rubber band, pipe cleaner or piece of string to hold the stuffing in place. Facial features can be drawn on the monster's head or your child may wish to glue eyes and teeth cut from magazines. All types of stickers and Googly Eyes can be purchased at most craft stores and there are enough in the package for make several monsters (unless your monster has dozens of eyes, of course). Hands and arms can be cut from construction paper or felt and glued to the bag. Material scraps can be made into costumes for their monster if you have scraps of fake fur bring it out! No fake fur? Get some yarn and show your children how to unravel it and tease it with a comb this could lead to a monster with fur of a different color, or several different colors. Lint from your dryer can also be used as monster fur. Monsters from outer space might have bodies fashioned from disposable pie plates or foil. Be sure to supervise children who are cutting or using disposable pie plates these can have sharp edges and cause serious injury.
HOW MESSY IS THIS PROJECT GOING TO BE? If you are just using paper bags and markers, make sure that your work area or table is covered with a disposable table cover or plastic. When the toddlers are done monster-making, roll up the cover and throw in the trash. What could be simpler? If, on the other hand, you are providing your child with glue, paint, scissors, construction paper, lint, magazines and all of that other really cool "stuff" mentioned above, the mess could be a little bigger. Once again, a table cover is a good idea who wants to have to chisel glue and paper scraps off of the dining table before tonight's meal. Also, be sure and plave a trashcan next to the table. Let the kids know that they can't have their afternoon snack or go play until all of the leftovers from their art project have been swept into the trashcan. With a little advanced planning, there is no reason for the cleanup on this art project to take more than about 90 seconds.
DOES THIS PROJECT ENCOURAGE MY CHILD TO USE HIS/HER IMAGINATION? You bet! Since the monsters your children will be making are all imaginary; nothing that your child can create will be "wrong". Colors, textures and shapes can all come from the child's endless well of creativity. Once the monster puppet is completed, encourage the children to use them to act out stories they have heard or to create their own. The paper bag monsters may just become your child's new best "imaginary" friend.
WHAT'S IT GOING TO COST? Next to nothing. You will need brown or white paper bags, magazines, markers or crayons, glue or glue sticks, scissors, yarn, disposable pie plates, material scraps and buttons or googly eyes. Most families with children already have most of these items in their house. The supplies that you do not have are both inexpensive and easy to find. Check your local craft store, grocery store or dollar store. You will find that even if you are having a dozen kids over for a rainy day "play group" your expenses will be less than $10.00. The snacks for them and their moms will cost more than the art supplies for their bag monsters.
Fall is right around the corner and with autumn comes colder temperatures and wet, snowy weather. Paper bag monsters are one of those crafts that just might keep the kids busy for awhile and give you a much needed sanity break. As you sit at the table and watch them snip and glue paper to create their favorite monsters, sip some herbal tea and smile that you've lured them away from the computer or TV for a few minutes of creative self-expression.